Funding Schools Adequately in North Dakota: Resources to Double Student Performance

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1 Funding Schools Adequately in North Dakota: Resources to Double Student Performance Final Report Prepared for the North Dakota Education Improvement Commission Allan Odden Lawrence O. Picus Michael Goetz Anabel Aportela Sarah Archibald LAWRENCE O. PICUS AND ASSOCIATES July 31, 2008

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3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary v INTRODUCTION 1 1. THE NORTH DAKOTA SCHOOL FINANCE AND EDUCATION SYSTEM 4 North Dakota s School Finance Structure 4 North Dakota Student Performance 9 The Need to Improve Student Performance and School Finance Adequacy 13 North Dakota Districts and Schools That Have Improved Student Performance 15 Lincoln Elementary School 15 Mary Stark Elementary School 20 Robert Place Elementary School 24 Victor Solheim Elementary School 30 Buelah Middle School 35 Discovery Middle School 41 Williston Middle School 46 Grafton High School 51 Magic City High School 56 New Town High School 62 Summary: Ten Steps to Improving Student Performance APPLYING THE EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH IN NORTH DAKOTA 71 Definition of Adequacy 71 General Recommendations 72 Preschool 72 Student Count for Calculating State Aid 73 Full Day Kindergarten 74 District and School Size 75 Recommendations for the Personnel Elements in Prototypical Schools Core Teachers/Class Size Specialist Teachers and Planning and Preparation Time/Collaborative Professional Development Instructional Coaches 85 Strategies For Struggling Students Tutors English Language Learner (ELL) Students Extended-day Programs Summer School Alternative Schools Special Education Gifted, Talented, Able and Ambitious Students 107

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 11. Career and Technical Education Substitute Teachers Student Support/Family Outreach Aides Librarians Principal School Site Secretarial Staff 118 Effect Sizes of Major Recommendations 119 Recommendations for the Dollar Per Pupil Elements Intensive Professional Development Technology and Equipment Instructional Materials Student Activities CENTRAL OFFICE RESOURCES Central Office Administration Operation and Maintenance RECOMMENDED RESOURCES FOR NORTH DAKOTA SCHOOLS 147 References 151 ii

5 LIST OF TABLES Table Description Page S-A Summary of Weights Applied to the Per Student Payment Base and the Estimated Estimated Adequate Funding Level v S-1 Recommendations for Adequate Resources for Prototypical North Dakota Elementary, Middle and High Schools vii S-2 Personnel Generated through 3,828, 600 and 185 ADM District Prototypes ix A ADM Based High School Weights 6 B Staffing Chart for Lincoln Elementary School, C Staffing Chart for Mary Stark Elementary School, D Staffing Chart for Robert Place Miller Elementary School, E Staffing Chart for Victor Solheim Elementary School, F Staffing Chart for Beulah Middle School, G Staffing Chart for Discovery Middle School, H Staffing Chart for Williston Middle School, I Staffing Chart for Grafton High School, J Staffing Chart for Magic City Campus High School, K Staffing Chart for New Town High School, L Process and Content Features Characterizing Effective Extended Day Programs 98 M Estimated Effect Sizes of Major Recommendations 119 N Allocation of $250 per pupil for Technology 129 O Costs of Textbooks and Instructional Supplies by School Level (In annual dollars per pupil) 136 P Example of a Six Year Textbook Adoption Cycle for North Dakota 137 Q Example of a Six Year Textbook Adoption Cycle for Elementary Schools in North Dakota 137 R Recommended Total Annual Allocations Per pupil for Instructional Materials, Library Resources and Formative 140 Assessments S Composition of a Central District Office for a District with 3,500 Students: Results from Four Professional Focus Groups 144 T Proposed Central Office Staffing for a District with 3,500 Students Recommendations for Adequate Resources for Prototypical North Dakota Elementary, Middle and High Schools Personnel Generated through 3,828, 600 and 185 ADM District Prototypes North Dakota Model Compensation Levels ( ) 152 iii

6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Description Page 1 North Dakota 4 th Grade Reading Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) 10 2 North Dakota 8 th Grade Reading Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) 10 3 North Dakota 11 th Grade Reading Performance (State Assessment but no comparison to NAEP) 11 4 North Dakota 4 th Grade Math Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) 11 5 North Dakota 8 th Grade Math Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) 12 6 North Dakota 11 h Grade Math Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) 13 7 Achievement Data at Lincoln Elementary, to Achievement Data at Mary Stark, to Achievement Data at Robert Place Miller Elementary School, to Achievement Data at Victor Solheim Elementary School, to Beulah Middle School Performance Data, to Discovery Middle School Performance Data, to Williston Middle School Performance Data, to Grafton Middle School Performance Data, to Magic City Middle School Performance Data, to New Town High School Performance Data, to iv

7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Funding Schools Adequately in North Dakota: Resources to Double Student Performance Final Report Prepared for the North Dakota Education Improvement Commission Allan Odden Lawrence O. Picus Michael Goetz Anabel Aportela Sarah Archibald LAWRENCE O. PICUS AND ASSOCIATES July 31, 2008

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9 Funding Schools Adequately in North Dakota: Resources to Double Student Performance North Dakota s education and school finance systems are at a crossroads. During the last biennium, the state focused on the equity of the school finance formula and enacted substantial reforms in the funding system. Given the curriculum standards the state has decided all students should be taught, the desire to increase high school graduation requirements to include at least three years of both mathematics and science, the knowledge needs of the emerging global economy and the performance levels to which all students need to achieve in order to participate effectively in that economy, the state is now focused on the adequacy of the school finance system. This focus comes at a time when state revenues have grown substantially due in part to the high prices of agricultural products as well as, oil, gas and coal. The goal of adequacy North Dakota is to identify the resources needed to ensure that all students are taught the state s curriculum standards and that strategies are deployed using those resources in ways that will lead to a doubling of student performance on state tests over the next 4-6 years. Our analyses shows that while North Dakota s students perform well on state tests, only about percent of students perform at or above the rigorous proficiency standard measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress. This suggests that the state s students need to achieve at much higher levels to be sure they are fully prepared for college or work, and so they can engage successfully in economic, civic and family life in the 21 st century. Estimating revenues adequate for districts to attain these goals, specifically to double student performance, is the prime objective of this school finance adequacy study. The cost estimate derived from this work establishes a target for an adequate level of K-12 education funding through a combination of state and local funds. This adequacy study is the second step resulting from an agreement between the State and litigants who have sued North Dakota challenging the old funding system. 1 The intent of this agreement is to establish a more equitable and adequate funding system without a disruptive court trial. The 2007 Legislative session produced a new school finance structure that rescinded most features of the old system and created a new, simpler and more transparent funding structure. The new system continues to be based on average daily membership (ADM), but shifts funding from a series of categorical programs to a weighted pupil system in which students that need extra educational services are weighted so they generate the additional dollars required to provide the services the need. To determine state aid, the number of Weighted Student Units is now multiplied by the Per Student Payment. For , the Per Student Payment was $3,250. The formula is thus designed to provide a set level of state aid to all school districts for each Weighted Student Unit. Total state aid is then adjusted by several factors. These adjustments are made on the basis of Imputed Taxable Valuation Per Pupil (ITVP), computed using un-weighted ADM. ITVP includes some non-property tax revenues from minerals and tuition payments in the local 1 Williston Public School District No. 1 v. State.

10 measure of wealth. The key adjustment for adequacy is the Equity Payment. The general notion is that in addition to the Per Pupil Payment that comes from the state, each local school district should be able to raise a minimum amount of local revenues from a 185 mill general levy. There are many other specific and detailed aspects of the new formula pertaining to special education student placement, tuition payments, etc. The formula is designed under the assumption that all districts will have adequate funds to operate their district at a levy of at least 185 mills, and be guaranteed a specific yield from that levy. If applied to a state average Imputed Valuation Per Pupil, estimated to be approximately $24,000 per pupil, the levy would produce a local tax minimum yield of $4,440 per pupil if equalized to 100 percent. However, the equity payment equalizes to 88.5 percent of the state average ITVP in and 90 percent of the state average ITVP in , or for purposes of discussion $3,774 in and $3,996 in Added to that for is the $3,250 Per Student Payment from the state. Combined the total produces an average revenue of $7,024 per pupil. In the adequacy context, we view the goal of providing a minimum yield from a 185 mill rate to the state average ITVP plus the Per Student Payment as the figure that needs to be adequate. Thus, we calculated the cost of our core recommendations and compared it to the sum of the Per Student Payment and the yield of 185 mills on 88.5 percent of the state average ITVP, which is approximately $7,024 for Our estimate, based on North Dakota cost factors is that an adequate level of funding requires an average of $7,293 per pupil. The weights in the current formula are applied only to the Per Student Payment. So for , the weights produce an additional amount of revenue per pupil equal to the extra weight times $3,250. In the adequacy context, we calculated extra weights both in relation to the Per Student Payment of $3,250 and the $7,293 figure that we calculated to be the adequate general expenditure per pupil level. In most states, these goals would be attained through a foundation program, where the base expenditure level would be set at $7,024, or our adequacy estimate of $7,293, with a required tax rate of 185 mills. If the district did not raise the $7,024 or $7,293 per pupil at that mill rate, state aid would make up the difference. The adequate base spending level identified by our analyses could be used as the adequate foundation expenditure level, and pupil weights could be applied to that foundation level, if the state of North Dakota decides to revamp its current system and adopt a foundation approach to school funding. We used the Evidence-Based approach to school finance adequacy to conduct our North Dakota study. The Evidence-Based approach identifies a set of school-level programs that research and best practices shows are required to deliver a comprehensive and high-quality instructional program that can double student performance over a 4-6 year time period. We reviewed a wide range of literature on each individual program to determine its effectiveness. In addition, to show how the full set of these programs can be deployed, we have studied schools across the country that have doubled student performance, and found that the resources in the adequacy model provide the resources used by such schools. We also studied ii

11 several high and improving performance schools in North Dakota, and found the strategies they deployed required a similar set of resources. The report makes a clear distinction between the use of the word school and the word district. We use the word school largely to refer to a building where students are educated, like an elementary school, or a middle school or a high school. We use the word district to refer to the entity that would include all schools in a district plus the central office and any other service unit such as operations, maintenance and transportation. This report references schools as distinct from districts. We make recommendations for various kinds of school-based staff, and we also have a recommendation for staff in the prototypical district. At the end we also identify the numbers of staff all our recommendations would provide for the three different sized districts: 3,828, 600 and 185 pupils. The final model which is also summarized in Table S-1, includes the following resources for North Dakota schools and school districts (note that items marked with an * are included in the base cost figure of $7,293): 1. *Core class sizes (for reading/english/language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and world language) of 15 students for grades K-3, and 25 for grades Full day kindergarten is also included. 2. *Specialist and elective teachers (e.g., art, music, physical education, health, etc.) at the rate of 20% of core teachers for grades K-8 and 33% of core teachers for high school grades *Instructional coaches for professional development at the rate of 1 FTE coach position for every 200 students. 4. Tutors to provide extra help for struggling students at the rate of one tutor FTE position for every prototypical school plus an additional one FTE position for every 125 at-risk pupils. The first tutor is part of the base program. The cost of the latter part of this recommendation is about $422 per each at-risk pupil, which equates to an extra weight of 0.13 in the year relative to the Per Student Payment of $3,250, and a weight of relative to the adequate expenditure level of $7, An increase in the weight applied to the per student payment for new immigrant ELL students to 1.0, which equates to a weight of for the estimated per pupil adequacy level of $7, An extended day program that provides one teacher position for every 15 eligible students (defined as 50 percent of the at-risk pupil count) and paid at the rate of 25 percent of the position s annual salary to offer a 2 ½ to 3 hour extended-day program 5 days per week. The cost of this recommendation equals about $440 per each at-risk pupil, which equates for the year to an extra weight of for extended-day instructional support for each at-risk student relative to the Per Student Payment of $3,250, and a weight of 0.06 relative to an adequate expenditure of $7,293. iii

12 7. Retention of the current summer school student weight of 0.6 applied to the Per Student Payment. If applied to the adequate expenditure estimate of $7,293, the summer school weight would be Retention of the current weight of 0.25 applied to the Per Student Payment for Major Alternative School ADM. If applied to the adequate expenditure estimate of $7,293, the Major Alternative School weight would be *Retention of the census approach to funding resources for special education but increasing those resources to 1 teacher position and 1 aide position for every 150 ADM which relative to the Per Student Payment equates to an extra weight of 0.17 applied to each school s ADM and an extra weight of 0.07 applied to the adequate base spending of $7,293, and continuation of the state s current program of full funding of costs of services for the top 1%. 10. *$25 per district total ADM for extra services provided to gifted and talented students. 11. Career and vocational education: no recommendation not in scope of study. 12. *Substitute teachers at the rate of 10 substitute days per year for all teachers with costs estimated at the rate of $125 per day, plus social security and state retirement benefits, for a total of $ *One guidance counselor for each prototypical elementary school and 1 guidance counselor for every 250 students for students in prototypical middle and high schools. In addition, one FTE pupil support position for every 125 at-risk students (to be allocated for social workers, nurses, psychologists, family outreach persons, case workers or guidance counselors however a school decides). The cost of the first guidance counselor is included in the base program. For the additional pupil support staff recommendation, the estimated cost is about $422 per each at-risk pupil, which equates for the year to an extra weight of 0.13 for additional pupil support for each at-risk student relative to the Per Student Payment of $3,250, and a weight of relative to the adequate base spending of $7, *2 non-instructional aides for each of the prototypical elementary and middle schools, and 3 for the prototypical high school. 15. *One librarian position of each of the prototypical schools. 16. *1 Principal for the elementary school, 1 principal and 0.5 assistant principal positions for the prototypical middle school and 1 principal and 1.0 assistant principal positions for the prototypical high school. 17. *2 secretarial positions for the prototypical elementary and middle schools, and 4 secretarial positions position for the prototypical high school. iv

13 18. *For professional development, in addition to the instructional coach positions identified above, an increase in the teacher work year of 8 days to provide for a total of 10 professional development days over the course of the work year, and $100 per pupil for the costs of training and other expenses. 19. *$250 per ADM for technology: computers, software, hardware and supplies. 20. *Instructional materials to include funds for formative and benchmark assessments, at the rate of $170 per elementary and middle school ADM, and $205 for high school ADM. 21. *Pupil activities funds at the rate of $200 per elementary and middle school ADM, and $250 for high school ADM. 22. *$600 per ADM for central office staff and services. 23. *$851 per ADM for operations and maintenances of schools and the district. * Included in the base or adequate cost figure, others either provided through categorical programs or were not part of this study To indicate the relative level of resources in schools, we show in Table S-1 how the recommendations provide resources for prototypical school units of 432 elementary students (grades K-5), 450 middle school students (grades 6-8) and 600 high school students (grades 9-12). We estimated the costs of our recommendations for prototypical schools in a prototypical district of 3,828, which would be a district with four 432 student elementary schools (K-5), two 450 student middle schools (grades 6-8) and two 600 student high schools (grades 9-12). This assumes that there are about students at each grade level. To make our findings more relevant to the experience of educators in North Dakota, we also provide pro-rated staffing estimates for a 600 student school district. We also estimated the costs of our recommendations for a district with 185 students, which now receives a district small school weight of 1.25, and compared our proposed costs for the 185 district to that of the prototypical district to determine whether the current 1.25 weight was adequate Using data from the school year, which are the data used to calculate state aid for the school year, we estimate that our recommendations would result in a base adequate spending level of $7,293 per ADM as shown above. This figure is modestly larger than the current figure of $7,024 that is the implicit guarantee of the current funding system with a minimum 185 mills of tax effort. In addition to the $7,293 per ADM, the funding system would provide districts with categorical funds for students with extra needs on the basis of the weighting factors identified in the resource list above. Those weights are also summarized in Table S-A below using both the Per Student Payment of $3,250 and the adequate spending level of $7,293 as the basis for computing the weights. v

14 Table S-A Summary of Weights Applied to the Per Student Payment Base and the Estimated Estimated Adequate Funding Level Extra Need Category Weight Relative to Per Student Payment ($3,250) Weight Relative to Adequate Spending Level ($7,293) Tutors a ELL b Extended Day a Summer School c Additional Pupil Support a Special Education d a Weight applied to At-Risk student count b Weight applied to immigrant ELL students c Weight applied to summer school ADM d Weight applied to regular ADM The estimated costs of the Evidence Based adequacy model are based largely on the allocation of personnel to schools and districts. To facilitate understanding of how personnel are allocated to schools, Table S-2 shows these staffing levels for four prototypical options. The first column shows the staffing for a prototypical district of 3,828 ADM, while the second displays the proportional levels of staffing resources for a 600 student prototypical district. The personnel counts displayed in that column are computed by prorating the resources in the 3,828 student prototypical district to that for a 600 pupil district, using the ratio of 600/3,828. Table S-2 also has two columns showing the prorated resources for a 185 student district. The first 185 student column retains a full 1.0 principal and librarian. The second 185 student column of Table 2 presents a somewhat more generous staffing proposal for small districts. In our discussion with the Professional Judgment Panels and the Education Improvement Commission at its May 6, 2008 meeting, it seemed that the second column was preferred. Our cost analysis showed, moreover, that the additional weight needed to produce the resources for the second 185 student column is , which is almost the same as the state s current 1.25 weight for districts with 185 ADM. Based on this result, we would suggest that the state s current small district weight works well if the weights are applied to the adequate spending level of $7,293 and not just the Per Student Payment amount of $3,250. vi

15 Table S-1 Recommendations for Adequate Resources for Prototypical North Dakota Elementary, Middle and High Schools School Element Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools School Characteristics School configuration K Prototypic school size Class size K-3: : : : 25 Full-day kindergarten Yes NA NA Number of teacher work days 192 teacher work days, an increase of 8 days. 192 teacher work days, an increase of 8 days. 192 teacher work days, an increase of 8 days. % At-Risk (free & reduced lunch) 41.3 % 41.3 % 41.3 % % ELL 5.2 % 5.2 % 5.2 % Personnel Resources 1. Core teachers % more: 20% more: 2. Specialist teachers Instructional Coaches and an 1.0 and an additional 1.0 for every additional 1.0 for every 4. Tutors 125 at-risk students: 125 at-risk students: At-risk weight: 0.13 At-risk weight: Teachers for ELL students 6. Extended Day 7. Summer School Increase weight for new immigrant ELL students to At-risk weight: Keep current summer school weight: 0.6 Increase weight for new immigrant ELL students to At-risk weight: Keep current summer school weight: Alternative Schools NA NA 9a. Learning and mild disabled students 9b. Severely disabled students 1 teacher position and 1 aide position for every 150 ADM 0.17 ADM weight 100% state reimbursement for top 1% minus federal funds. 1 teacher position and 1 aide position for every 150 ADM 0.17 ADM weight 100% state reimbursement for top 1% minus federal funds. 33% more: and an additional 1.0 for every 125 at-risk students: 3.0 At-risk weight: 0.13 Increase weight for new immigrant ELL students to At-risk weight: Keep current summer school weight: 0.6 Keep current weight of 0.25 for Major Alternative School ADM 1 teacher position and1 aide position for every 150 ADM 0.17 ADM weight 100% state reimbursement for top 1% minus federal funds. vii

16 Table S-1 (continued) Recommendations for Adequate Resources for Prototypical North Dakota Elementary, Middle and High Schools School Element Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools School Characteristics 10. Services for gifted students $25/student $25/student $25/student 11. Career/Technical NA NA NA Education 12. Substitutes 10 days per teacher 10 days per teacher 10 days per teacher 1.0 Guidance 1.0 Guidance Counselor 1 Guidance Counselor Counselor per 250 per 250 students Plus Plus students Plus 1 Pupil Support Staff 13. Pupil support staff 1 Pupil Support Staff 1 Pupil Support Staff Position for every 125 atrisk students Position for every 125 atrisk students:2.4 Position for every 125 at-risk students: total At-risk weight: 0.13 At-risk weight: 0.13 At-risk weight: Non-Instructional Aides 15. Librarians/media specialists 16. Principal School Site Secretary 18. Professional development plus 0.5 Asst. Principal 1 plus 1.0 Asst. Principal 2.0 Secretaries 2.0 Secretaries 4.0 Secretaries Included above: Instructional coaches Planning & prep time 10 summer days Additional: $100/pupil for other PD expenses trainers, conferences, travel, etc. Included above: Instructional coaches Planning & prep time 10 summer days Additional: $100/pupil for other PD expenses trainers, conferences, travel, etc. Included above: Instructional coaches Planning & prep time 10 summer days Additional: $100/pupil for other PD expenses trainers, conferences, travel, etc. Dollar/Pupil Resources 19. Technology $250/pupil $250/pupil $250/pupil 20. Instructional materials, formative assessments $145/pupil $25/pupil $145/pupil $25/pupil 21. Student Activities $200/pupil $200/pupil 22. Central Administration 23. Operations and Maintenance $180/pupil $25/pupil $250/pupil $600 per pupil $600 per pupil $600 per pupil $851 per pupil $851 per pupil $851 per pupil viii

17 Table S-2 Personnel Generated through 3,828, 600 and 185 ADM District Prototypes Personnel Resource Category School Enrollment 3,828 Student District 600 Student District 185 Student District (prorated) 185 Student District 3, Core Teachers Specialist Teachers Instructional Coaches Teacher Tutors ELL Teachers Extended Day Program Summer School Substitutes days for each ADM generated teacher positions at $125/day plus benefits for total of $ Supervisory Aides Counselors Other Pupil Support Librarian 8.0 School Administration 8 Principals 3 Asst. Principals Principal 0.5 Asst. Principal Principal 1.0 Principal Secretaries Special Educ. Teachers Special Educ. Aides ix

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19 Funding Schools Adequately in North Dakota: Resources to Double Student Performance INTRODUCTION North Dakota s education and school finance systems are at a crossroads. During the last biennium, the state focused on the equity of the school finance formula and enacted substantial change to the system. Given the curriculum standards that the state has decided all students should be taught, the knowledge needs of the emerging global economy and the performance levels to which all students need to achieve in order to participate effectively in that economy, the state is now focused on the adequacy of the school finance system. This focus comes at a time when state revenues have grown substantially due in part to the high prices of agricultural products as well as, oil, gas and coal. The goal of adequacy is to identify the resources needed to ensure that all students are taught the state s curriculum standards and that strategies are deployed using those resources in ways that will lead to a doubling of student performance on state tests over the next 4-6 years. These goals are the prime objectives of this school finance adequacy study. The cost estimate that results from this work will establish a target for an adequate level of K-12 education funding through a combination of state and local funds. During most of the twentieth century, school finance policy in North Dakota and across the United States primarily focused on equity or the fair distribution of education resources across districts and students. Throughout those decades, resources available to school districts relied heavily on local property wealth, which varied greatly then and continues to do so today. A consequence of this in North Dakota was an amended lawsuit filed in December 2003 by nine school districts requesting that the state school finance system be declared unconstitutional. 2 However, in January 2006, the opposing parties agreed to stay the action and provide North Dakota s Legislature the opportunity to settle, compromise and resolve the legal action. The Agreement to Stay Litigation signed by plaintiffs and the state called for the establishment of the North Dakota Commission on Education Improvement. An Executive Order by the governor created the Commission and charged it with preparing reports that provided recommendations for improving the state s school finance system on both equity and adequacy grounds. By the end of 2006, the Commission issued a report with detailed recommendations to improve the equity of the funding system. Most of these recommendations were enacted by the 2007 Legislature in SB 2200, along with an additional $90.5 million in funding for public K-12 schools. As a result, plaintiffs dismissed the lawsuit and pledged to initiate no additional legal actions until after the 2009 legislative session. Following the 2007 Legislative session, the Commission began to address issues related to the adequacy of the state s school finance system. This report, prepared for the Commission by Lawrence O. Picus and Associates, addresses those adequacy issues. 2 Williston Public School District No. 1 v. State.

20 North Dakota s future, especially the economic, family and civic potential of the state s children, depends on the degree to which the state and its workers can compete effectively in the emerging, global, knowledge-based economy. The states and countries that succeed most effectively will be those able to develop a workforce with a much higher level of cognitive skills. The key to the economic and civic success of today s students is their level of knowledge and skills they develop in school. This means North Dakota s education system must focus more aggressively on educating students to higher standards. The long term goals should be enabling the vast majority of students to achieve at or above the state s established proficiency level, and expecting a much higher percentage of students than at present will achieve at nationally recognized proficiency levels. In the near term, the goal should be to double student performance in the next 4-6 years. This goal is the driving force of the evidence-based approach to school finance adequacy. This report, prepared for the Commission, outlines an approach to North Dakota school finance adequacy that would provide all districts and schools with the resources to double student performance in the next 4-6 years. In the process it will help dramatically reduce the achievement gap between majority students and students of color and/or from lower income backgrounds. Accomplishing these goals would move North Dakota s K-12 education system from a good above-the-national-average system to a great system (Collins, 2001) with its students performing at the levels of those in the top countries in the world. In the process it would provide the education base the state needs to grow its economy. Section One of this report sets the stage for these adequacy recommendations. In that section we first describe the current North Dakota school finance system. Although we know that the 2007 Legislature made substantial improvements in the funding system for the state s 195 districts and enhanced the equity of the system, we conducted a standard equity analysis and report the results below. Both enhancing the current school finance structure, including increasing the Per Student Payment, as well as implementing a new foundation program would further improve the equity of North Dakota s school finance structure.. Section One continues with an overview of student achievement in North Dakota. The discussion demonstrates that although student test scores look good on state tests which link to the state s definition of proficiency, the results are not so sanguine when the more rigorous, national standard of proficiency of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is used. In fact, the data show that while percent of students score at or above proficiency on the state s assessments, on national tests only percent of North Dakota s students meet the more rigorous proficiency benchmark of the NAEP. Finally, Section One identifies several districts and schools in North Dakota that have improved student performance in the past five years and provides a synthesis of how they have accomplished these impressive feats. This success suggests other districts and schools can produce similar achievement gains with adequate school funding. The remainder of the report presents the details of our evidence-based approach to defining school finance adequacy. In Section Two we apply that model to North Dakota using prototypical elementary, middle and high schools in a prototypical district. This adequacy study 2

21 is limited to making recommendations about adequate school resources for instruction, instructional support, student support and school administration. Consequently, in Section Three we identify carry forward funding levels for operations and maintenance and miscellaneous expenditures, in order to produce a figure which is comparable to a modified Cost of Education in North Dakota reports. Section Three describes our approach for estimating those carryforward amounts and applies the results to the estimate of adequacy for North Dakota. Section Four summarizes our recommendations for adequately funding North Dakota s schools and districts. Section Five provides a discussion on how the findings from the adequacy study can be integrated into a school funding model for North Dakota. In that section, we describe how the recommendations can be translated into both new student weights and eventually into a new per pupil payment model. At some time in the future the state might want to investigate how to incorporate the results into a more traditional foundation program equalization program. 3

22 1. THE NORTH DAKOTA SCHOOL FINANCE AND EDUCATION SYSTEM In the school year, North Dakota public schools educated about 100,176 pupils in average daily membership (ADM) in 195 operating districts. The state s schools spent about $745.1 million for the cost of education from local, state and federal sources or a total of about $7,438 per pupil in average daily membership. This figure excludes expenditures for transportation, capital outlay, food service, transfers and small amounts of miscellaneous items. The average imputed taxable value per pupil at that time was about $18,978. In school year, North Dakota public schools educated about 98,112 pupils. The state s schools spent about $769.5 million for the cost of education from local, state and federal sources or a total of about $7,843 per pupil in ADM. This figure excludes spending for transportation, capital outlay, food service, transfers and small amounts of miscellaneous items. The average imputed taxable value per pupil increased to about $20,864 from the previous year due to an approximate 8 percent rise in imputed taxable value and a 2 percent drop in students. North Dakota s School Finance Structure The 2007 Legislative session produced a new North Dakota school finance structure. The new law rescinded most features of the old system and created a new, simpler and more transparent structure. The new system continued to be based on average daily membership, but shifted from a series of categorical programs to a weighted pupil system, in which students that needed extra educational services were weighted for the additional dollars for those services. In general, school revenues are derived from four sources: local property taxes, mineral revenues, tuition and state aid. In redesigning the state aid formula, which was based largely on property wealth in the past, the new system sought to include revenues from tuition and mineral extraction as part of the local wealth measure. The bill created what is called Imputed Taxable Valuation, which is the value of all taxable real property plus the imputed value of mineral and tuition revenues. The imputed value of mineral and tuition revenues is determined by dividing 60 percent of the total of those revenues by the general fund mill levy for the school year. This increases to 70 percent of mineral and tuition revenues for the school year. For purposes of this report we estimate the statewide average Imputed Taxable Valuation Per Pupil (ITVP) for the year will increase by about 15 percent over the figure for to a total of approximately $22,800, which includes both the 15 percent increase as well as factoring in a shift to full day kindergarten students which has the effect of lowering the ITVP for districts. The school district funding formula works as follows: 1. A weighted student or ADM count is developed. ADM is average daily membership, which includes full day kindergarten beginning in The weighted ADM count is the total ADM in the district plus additional pupil counts derived from several weights: 0.60 times the number of pupils in approved summer school programs 0.50 times the number of pupils in home based education 0.25 times the number of pupils in an alternative high school 0.25 times the number of students enrolled in an isolated high school 4

23 0.25 times the number of students enrolled in an isolated elementary school 0.20 times the number of students attending school in a bordering state 0.17 times the number of student enrolled in an early childhood special education program 0.14 times the number of students in immigrant English language learner (ELL) program 0.02 times the number of students, exclusive of those in new immigrant programs, in an English language learner (ELL) program 1.00 times the number of students in a migrant summer program 1.00 times the number of students in an extended education program times the ADM to estimate a number of students with disabilities. The weighted ADM count also includes any additional ADM for isolated schools. An isolated elementary school is defined as one with fewer than 50 ADM and if 15 percent or more of a school s students must travel farther than 15 miles to the school; an isolated elementary school is presumed to have at least 15 ADM. An isolated high school is defined as one with fewer than 35 students and if 15 percent or more of its students must travel farther than 15 miles to school; an isolated high school is presumed to have at least 20 ADM. 2. The weighted pupil or ADM count is then further weighted by school district size weighting factors, to produce the final Weighted Student Units. For high school districts, the weighted pupil units figure is determined by multiplying the weighted ADM count by a factor that varies with the number of regular students (ADM) in the district as shown in Table A: For elementary school districts, the Weighted Student Units figure is determined by multiplying the weighted ADM count by 1.25 if ADM is less than 125, by 1.17 if ADM is at least 125 but less than 200, and by 1.00 if ADM is 200 or more. The result produces a figure called Weighted Student Units, which is the pupil count used in the funding formula. To determine state aid, the number of Weighted Student Units is then multiplied by the Per Student Payment. For , the Per Student Payment is $3,250. For , the Per Student Payment will increase to $3,325. To this point, the formula is designed to provide a set level of state aid to all school districts for each Weighted Student Unit. The actual state aid is then limited in terms of how much it can and must increase for each school district, from a figure calculated for the base year of For , the amount per weighted student unit must increase to a minimum of at least percent and to a maximum of 107 percent, with respect to the year. These amounts are changed for subsequent years, and districts are always entitled to an amount per Weighted Student Unit of at least 106 percent of the base in

24 Table A ADM Based High School Weights ADM Weight < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < to < or more The total state aid is then adjusted by several factors, three of which will be described here. These adjustments are made on the basis of Imputed Taxable Valuation Per Pupil (unweighted ADM) which includes some of the non-property tax revenues from minerals and tuition payments in the local measure of wealth. The first adjustment is called the Equity Payment. The general notion here is that in addition to the Per Pupil Payment that comes from the state, each local school district should be able to raise a minimum amount of local revenues from a 185 mill general levy. In its pure form for districts with ITVP less than the state average, the equity payment would provide to each district the difference between what it raises locally from a 185 mill levy (or the district s actual levy if lower than 185 mills) and the yield from that levy applied to the state average ITVP, which for purposes of discussion we will say is $24,000 per pupil. In its pure form, this would ensure that all districts raised at least $4,440 per pupil from a 185 mill levy. As actually enacted, the law provides for equalizing the yield from the difference in what the district would raise and what would be raised from the 185 mill levy applied to

25 percent of the state average ITVP in and 90 percent of the state average ITVP in , or for purposes of discussion $3,774 in and $3,996 in The second adjustment is called the Taxable Valuation Impact on State Aid. This is a reduction of state aid for districts with ITVP (again, unweighted ADM) that exceeds 150 percent of the statewide average. This deduction equals 75 percent of the excess amount raised by a 185 mill rate applied to the actual ITVP of the district compared to the yield applied to 150 percent of the statewide average ITVP. The third adjustment is called General Fund Levy Impact on State Aid. This is a reduction of state aid for districts with very low tax rates, i.e., with general fund levies less than 150 mills for and 155 mills for The deduction equals the amount raised by the difference between 150 mills (155 mills for ) and the district s actual mill levy times the district s actual Imputed Taxable Value. There are many other specific and detailed aspects of the new formula pertaining to special education student placement, tuition payments, etc., but the provisions described above cover the major features of the formula. The formula is designed under the assumption that all districts would have adequate funds to operate their district at a levy of at least 185 mills, and be guaranteed a specific yield from that levy. If applied to a state average Imputed Valuation Per Pupil, estimated to be approximately $24,000 per pupil, the levy would produce a local tax minimum yield of $4,440 per pupil if equalized to 100 percent. However, the equity payment equalizes to 88.5 percent of the state average ITVP in and 90 percent of the state average ITVP in , or for purposes of discussion $3,774 in and $3,996 in Added to that for is the $3,250 Per Student Payment from the state. Combined the total would produce $7,024 per pupil. High wealth districts would be penalized if they could raise these amounts with tax rates below 150 mills in and 155 mills in High valuation districts, but only those with an Imputed Taxable Value Per Pupil greater than 150 percent of the state average, which would raise much more than the $4,440 from a 185 mill levy, would have a deduction to their state aid. In most states, these goals would be attained through a foundation program, where the base expenditure level would be set at $7,024 with a required tax rate of 185 mills. If the district did not raise the $7,024 at that mill rate, state aid would make up the difference. We will identify what our analyses suggest would be an adequate foundation expenditure level, and compute pupil weights that could be applied to that foundation level if the state decides to revamp its current system and adopt a foundation approach to school funding in North Dakota. In the adequacy context, we view the goal of providing a minimum yield from a 185 mill rate to the state average ITVP plus the Per Student Payment as the figure that needs to be adequate. Thus, as we calculate the cost of our core recommendations, we will compare them to the sum of the Per Student Payment and the yield of 185 mills on 88.5 percent of the state average ITVP, which is approximately $7,024 for Currently, the state uses a separate program to provide state aid for transportation services. The current state formula funds about half of the overall transportation costs across districts. Districts must support the local portion 7

26 The weights in the current formula are applied only to the Per Student Payment. So for , the weights produce an additional amount of revenue per pupil equal to the extra weight times $3,250. In the adequacy context, we will compare that amount of additional revenue per pupil to the cost per pupil of what we recommend as adequate resources for those extra needs. In most states, turning an additional amount of revenue into a weight would be calculated by the ratio of the additional revenue to the base foundation expenditure level. Implicitly this is $7,024 in North Dakota, or slightly more than twice the size of the Per Student Payment. In our adequacy calculations below, we will suggest weights both for a Per Student Payment and for an implicit foundation expenditure level. This foundation number is best compared to the current Cost of Education, minus expenditures from federal revenues. A foundation approach to school funding. Most states use a foundation approach as the structure of their state aid formula. Under a foundation approach, the state determines what level of base spending for the general school program it wants to support with a combination of local and state funds. Suppose that spending level was $7,500 per pupil. The state would guarantee each district would receive the $7,500 from a combination of state and local funds. Local funds would be determined by a required local property tax rate. If the district did not raise the $7,500 per pupil at that tax rate, the state would make up the difference. If the district raised more than the $7,500 from that tax rate, the state would allow it to lower its required rate to the level that would produce the $7,500 but unless there were hold harmless or other elements of the program, the latter district would not receive state aid. In adequacy contexts, states set the foundation level at the adequate level. For the current North Dakota school funding system, the adequate funding level would probably need to be the sum of the Per Student Payment and the yield from the 185 minimum levy, or $7,024. If we assume that the adequacy study finds that the adequate amount in North Dakota is $8,000 per pupil, a funding increase of $976 per pupil would be needed. One approach would be to increase the Per Student Payment by that amount. But since the Per Student Payment is provided to every district regardless of Imputed Valuation Per Pupil, it would be the most expensive way to fund adequacy. An alternative would be to modify the expected yield from 185 mill minimum levy and provide aid only to those districts with relatively low wealth per pupil. As we suggested above, the elements of the current approach to school funding in North Dakota can be transformed into a foundation formula. To do so, one would add the Per Student Payment ($3,250) to the yield from the 185 minimum levy which at 88.5 percent of the state average Imputed Valuation Per Pupil would be $3,774, for a total of $7,024 for school year Thus, one could design a foundation program that guaranteed every district $7,024 per of transportation costs from local and other state general aid revenues. Since transportation costs vary so greatly across districts, North Dakota should consider keeping transportation separate and funded through a separate formula. In the adequacy context, the reimbursement rate (proportion of costs paid by the state) should be substantially increased. A reasonable argument could be made for the state to fund 100 percent of estimated transportation costs. If the state funds less than 100 percent, it should provide a means for districts to raise the local revenues needed to meet their full transportation costs. 8

27 pupil at the minimum property tax rate of 185 mills. This approach provides more state aid to districts with low Imputed Valuation Per pupil and lesser amounts to districts with higher Imputed Valuations. If the adequacy level were determined to be $8,000, then the foundation level would be increased to that amount, triggering more state aid, but again in inverse relationship to local Imputed Valuation. If the state is able to inject an additional $300 million into the state aid formula for the next biennium, the adjustments that large infusion of new revenues would make in the current formula might take it so close to a foundation program that the state might want to make the final jump and adopt a foundation approach to school funding. We suggest that in determining how the additional $300 million are allocated, the state simulate both adjustments to the current funding structure as well as a new foundation formula structure and then compare similarities and differences in the impact of each. In framing our adequacy recommendations below, we will use both the Per Student Payment approach as well the foundation model. North Dakota Student Performance This section provides a short, overview analysis of the performance of North Dakota s students on both state tests and the National Assessment of Educational Progress. We present several pairs of results. For each pair, the first chart shows student performance on North Dakota s testing program and the second shows the performance of North Dakota s students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Both charts show the percentage of students at various levels of performance: advanced, proficient, basic or below basic. In many states, the percent of students scoring at or above the proficient level, i.e., at proficient or advanced levels, is usually higher on state tests than the percentage scoring at that level on the NAEP test. This suggests that the NAEP has a more rigorous standard for proficient and advanced performance. Figure 1 displays two charts showing North Dakota student performance in Grade 4 reading; the results are like that in many other states. The results for the state tests show a more positive picture of student performance than the results for the NAEP test. In , approximately 80 percent of North Dakota s students scored at the proficient or advanced levels on the North Dakota state assessment, compared to approximately 35 percent on the NAEP test. 9

28 Figure 1: North Dakota 4 th Grade Reading Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) Reading, Grade 4 State Assessment Reading, Grade 4 NAEP 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Partially Proficient Novice 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic Figure 2 contains a pair of charts showing North Dakota student performance in Grade 8 reading. The Figure shows the pattern of student performance is similar to the Grade 4 results, with state tests results showing a more positive picture of student performance than the NAEP tests. In , about 75 percent of students score at the proficient or advanced levels on the North Dakota state assessment, compared to about only 32 percent on the NAEP test. Figure 2: North Dakota 8 th Grade Reading Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) Reading, Grade 8 State Assessment Reading, Grade 8 NAEP 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Partially Proficient Novice 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic Figure 3 displays only one chart with Grade 11 reading on state tests; unfortunately, NAEP tests do not exist for North Dakota for this subject and grade level. The chart of state data shows that about 72 percent of North Dakota students score at or above the North Dakota proficiency level. There is no chart with the NAEP results, but given the consistent finding of NAEP results being less sanguine than state results, we would expect that if there were a NAEP chart, it would show a much smaller percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency than is shown by the state results but without actual data, that is a conjecture on our part. The state 10

29 also is considering a using different test for Grade 11, one of which would be the ACT test, which other states now use as well Figure 3: North Dakota 11 th Grade Reading Performance (State Assessment but no comparison to NAEP) Reading, Grade 11 (12 in ) State Assessment 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Partially Proficient Novice Figure 4 contains two charts that depict Grade 4 mathematics achievement in North Dakota on both state tests and the NAEP. Figure 4 shows that for math, the pattern of a rosier picture on state tests than on the NAEP continues. The chart on the left, which displays state testing data, indicates that about 79 percent of Grade 4 students scored at or above the state proficiency level in ; the data on the right hand chart show that only 46 percent of students scored at the proficient or advanced levels on the NAEP Grade 4 math test. Though this percentage is higher than that for Grade 4 reading, it is still only slightly more than half of what is indicated by the state tests. Figure 4: North Dakota 4 th Grade Math Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) Math, Grade 4 State Assessment Math, Grade 4 NAEP 100% 100% % 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Partially Proficient Novice 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

30 Figure 5 presents a pair of charts showing North Dakota student achievement for Grade 8 students in mathematics. The familiar pattern continues. The data show that, according to the state test, about 66 percent of students score at or above proficiency, while the NAEP results indicate that only about 41 percent score at or above the proficiency level. Again, the results are better for mathematics than reading on the NAEP, but there is still a large discrepancy between the state test results and the NAEP results. Figure 5: North Dakota 8 th Grade Math Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) Math, Grade 8 State Assessment Math, Grade 8 NAEP 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Advanced Proficient Partially Proficient Novice 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic 10% 0% % 0% Finally, Figure 6 depicts Grade 11 (12 in ) student performance in mathematics. The chart on the left shows that for state tests, about 57 percent of students score at or above the proficiency level. Unfortunately, there is no NAEP chart with similar testing data so a direct comparison cannot be made between NAEP scores and state test scores. But as we conjectured for the reading scores at this grade level, we would expect to find similar discrepancies between NAEP and state test data at grade 11 as exist at the elementary and middle grade levels. 12

31 Figure 6: North Dakota 11 h Grade Math Performance (State Assessment compared to NAEP) Math, Grade 11 (12 in ) State Assessment 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Advanced Proficient Partially Proficient Novice We also note that on all tests, mathematics performance drops in higher grades. Looking only at the state tests, at the fourth grade about 90 percent of students score at or above proficiency; that level of performance drops to 65 percent for eighth grade students and to 57 percent for 11 th grade students. Similar trends are true for NAEP results, at elementary and middle schools. We do not have scores for the high school. This decline in performance as children move through the grades is also a trend that needs to be arrested. The Need to Improve Student Performance and School Finance Adequacy In sum, North Dakota student performance compared to the rest of the United States is not as strong as state tests might suggest. When student performance on state tests is compared to that on a national test such as the NAEP, the latter indicates a much lower level of student performance. In other states, this discrepancy has been interpreted to mean that the state proficiency standard is less rigorous than the NAEAP proficiency standard. Moreover, even though the NAEP results show that North Dakota student performance is above the national average student performance, analyses comparing U.S. student performance to other countries, conclude that the US national average student performance is not all that good. In sum, we conclude that substantial improvements in student performance in North Dakota are needed. Put differently, the state cannot be satisfied with improving performance only marginally; such modest gains will not allow the economic vitality needed for the state to continue to prosper, to provide the workers needed for the state s growing knowledge-based economy, or for all individuals to enjoy a good life. North Dakota s education system, like those in virtually all states, needs to improve current student performance so that in the short term -- the next 4-6 years student performance in North Dakota doubles. This task is daunting and will require a dramatically different approach to teaching and learning within schools as well as substantial changes to the state s public school funding structure. 13

32 This adequacy study provides a blueprint for how to do both. Schools must redesign the way they operate in order to take advantage of the evidence on educational effectiveness presented in this report. All current and any new dollars will need to be reallocated toward these evidence-based approaches if these ambitious education goals are to be accomplished. Costs included in the study. We note at the beginning that the educational costs included in this study address mainly instructional issues. We will redesign strategies, programs and services covering expenditures for the instructional, instructional support, pupil support and site administration functions. We also will prepare a proposal for a redesigned central office, but we will carry forward expenditures for operation and maintenance. This report is focused on answering the following key questions: 1. What are the high impact educational programs and strategies that would allow North Dakota districts and schools to double student performance, with proficiency standards calibrated over time to those of the NAEP? 2. How much do those strategies cost, and what is the size of the gap, if any, between current resource levels and the adequate funding levels needed to implement all evidencebased strategies? 3. What are the program and fiscal implementation strategies? First, how can current dollars be used more effectively by eliminating inefficiencies and reallocating current resources? Second, how can any new dollars be targeted specifically to evidence-based practices that produce greater student achievement? We should emphasize that our assumption throughout this report is that before recommending additional funds for education, all existing resources would be available to implement the evidence-based recommendations contained herein. In other words, this is not about what to do with just the new dollars, but rather what to do with all dollars in the system, excepting of course federal dollars as they are subject to federal requirements. In effect, we assume all dollars and programs currently in the system would sunset, and that extant dollars and any new dollars would be used for the strategies identified in the report. In short, we are assuming complete allocation of current resources to the most effective, efficient, and evidencebased educational strategies available at the classroom, school and district level (strategies discussed in this report). Although the state might not want to mandate these actions, our funding recommendations will make these assumptions for the purpose of efficiency. The findings from this study will not simply propose adding new dollars on top of current dollars; but rather the study will propose a complete new use of all dollars. In our conceptualization of the process, current dollars are re-allocated to new needs before any new dollars are recommended for the system. 14

33 North Dakota Districts and Schools that Have Improved Student Performance This section includes ten schools in North Dakota that have been working hard to improve or maintain high levels of student performance, and have had some considerable success. Lincoln Elementary School This case tells the story of how Lincoln Elementary School in Beach, North Dakota, significantly improved student performance. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also illustrates the school s academic achievement gains. The second section details the school improvement process. The third section lists the school s staff according to the categories of the evidence-based adequacy model and shows where the school s staffing deviates from the model. The final section makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Lincoln used to improve performance and the direction in which they are planning to go in the future. Description of the School. Lincoln Elementary is a K-6 School wide Title I school in the Beach Public School District. Beach is a ranching and farming community of approximately 1,000 in the southwest corner of the state. The district serves 280 students, which includes high school students from three small, nearby communities without high schools: Golva, Sentinel Butte and Medora. The district also includes students in grades 6-12 from a residential facility for troubled children called Home on the Range. Lincoln Elementary had 102 students in the school year, of whom almost all (96 percent) were Caucasian. Approximately 43 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, and 17 percent qualify for special education services, including speech. The average class size is 14. The goals for student performance at the school are set by NCLB s mandate for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The school is currently up for an NCLB-Blue Ribbon award, but has not yet learned if they have officially won. Figure 7 illustrates that over the past four years, state test scores have been steadily rising in reading and math. Between and , the percent proficient in math rose 16 percentage points and the percent proficient in reading rose by 14 points. Another student achievement goal at Lincoln is that students make their expected growth on the formative assessments they take three times per year. These tests, called MAP (Measures of Academic Progress), are a product of the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA). 15

34 Figure 7 Achievement Data at Lincoln Elementary, to Achievement Growth at Lincoln Elementary Percent proficient on State Assessment Reading Math Testing Year Reading Math The school improvement process that contributed to the reading and math gains is described in the next section. Lincoln Elementary School s instructional improvement strategy. The principal of Lincoln Elementary School has a collaborative style of leadership. He lets teachers make decisions if at all possible, and lets them try things that they want to try even if he thinks they may not be successful. He believes by supporting them, he builds trust. He also believes that success breeds success, and this applies to both teachers and students, so he tries to foster success wherever possible. Analyzing student test score data is central to instruction at Lincoln Elementary. As mentioned above, students take the North Dakota State Assessment in the fall, and three times a year they take formative assessments called MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). The principal personally gives the tests to help underscore their importance to students and therefore, hopefully, inspire them to do their best. Both the principal and the teachers use the results from the formative assessment to focus and shift their instruction as necessary. One example of this is that each time they get the results, the principal takes the lowest average and notes which category it is, e.g. literal comprehension. He then uses this information to target instruction in this area by making a list of the set of skills and designing homework assignments around those specific skills. Parents also receive the results of these tests so that they know where there children stand in terms of learning the standards. In addition to the MAP testing and the North Dakota State Assessments, students in kindergarten through grade three take Diebels test four times a year. This allows the principal and the teachers to closely monitor these early learners at a crucial point in their education. Throughout the grades, standards drive the curriculum at Lincoln. Although teachers use Scott Foresman for reading and math, the standards determine what is emphasized in each chapter. 16

35 Although the state only reimbursed for half-day kindergarten until the school year, Lincoln has had full-day kindergarten four days a week for nine years. Known in the area as the Beach plan, every student came to school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and the Title I students came for an hour and a half on Wednesday mornings. The extra time, over and above the half-days paid for by the state, was funded with Title I money. The extra time on Wednesdays for Title I students was staffed by the kindergarten teacher who used the time to pre-teach and re-teach difficult concepts. This strategy helped ensure that as many kindergarteners as possible were on grade level. Even with frequent formative assessments and a curriculum well-aligned to the North Dakota State Standards, some students require extra help to stay on grade level. Because Lincoln is a School wide Title I school, one extra help strategy they provide is a Title I school wide teacher, who both goes into classrooms to tutor students who need extra help and sometimes pulls them out of the classroom for tutoring. (Title I also pays for two Para educators, one of whom is devoted to technology.) Another important piece of the extra help strategy at Lincoln is the instructional interventionist. This position, which is currently staffed by a part-time, certified teacher who is paid as a Para educator, is also designed to provide tutoring support to students struggling with concepts in core courses. The many formative assessments that the students take, from Diebels to MAP, help identify those in need so that the instructional interventionist and Title I teacher can get them help in a timely fashion. Two different after school programs are available to students at Lincoln who are in need of extra help. One of them is a tutoring program on Tuesdays and Thursdays; teachers take turns fulfilling this role until at least 4pm (depending on student need). The other program is paid for by a 21 st century grant, and is intended to support struggling students. The principal and teachers use the results of MAP and state tests to see which students are in need of the program, which is offered five days a week from 3:15-6:00pm. In the summertime, Lincoln Elementary is the site of a four-week program that is targeted to students who are below grade level in math and reading. Professional development is also key to helping Lincoln teachers and students succeed. The principal tries to give teachers staff development opportunities that include action research, collaboratively examining student work, courses/workshops with follow-up, instructional coaching, lesson study, peer coaching, and peer reviewing. Teachers have four formal days of staff development, two in August at the beginning of the year, one in September and one in January. The teachers also meet every few weeks after contracted hours for staff development, for which they receive a stipend. The principal tries to give teachers an hour a day of planning time, but it is difficult with the few specialists they have on staff. Also, because there is only one teacher at each grade level, teachers do not have the opportunity to meet in grade-level teams. However,, once a year the regional education consortium theirs is called the Regional Roughrider Educational Services Program because Teddy Roosevelt lived in a nearby town at one point holds a session for teachers at each grade level in Dickinson. These sessions are focused on an area of instruction, 17

36 and are very valuable to Lincoln teachers because they offer a rare opportunity for collaboration with teachers of the same grade level. Substitute teachers relieve teachers to attend these meetings, although substitutes can be hard to find because they are in a rural area and because they are about one mile from the Montana border, and to be a substitute in North Dakota, a teacher must be certified in the state. The principal has been known to take over a classroom when a substitute cannot be found. This is indicative of the principal s attitude about his job and his staff. He tries to be as supportive as he can, particularly of activities that support strong instruction at the school. One strategy the principal has used is to hire teachers with special education certification to work at the elementary school. He finds that these teachers work well with the full range of learners. The next section provides a chart detailing all the staff at Lincoln Elementary School. Staff at Lincoln Elementary School. Table B displays the staffing for Lincoln Elementary School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal Title I funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. The last section concludes the case by summarizing the school s success, the direction in which the school is hoping to move, and the cases in which resources provided by the evidencebased model would help them continue to improve. Concluding points. As the performance data illustrated, student scores on the North Dakota State Assessment have been rising over the past four years in reading and math. In math, they climbed from 71 to 87 percent proficient between , and scores went up from 71 to 85 percent proficient over the same period in math. This has largely been accomplished by thoroughly analyzing student data from formative assessments, revising and supplementing instruction in the classrooms as necessary, providing meaningful professional development for the staff, and offering extra help in multiple forms to students who are not on grade level. One example given of an extra help strategy at Lincoln is tutoring. The principal and teachers at Lincoln understand the importance of tutoring to help keep students on grade level. As stated above, they currently have a position they call an instructional interventionist, and in that position they have a certified teacher who is paid as a Para educator. The principal is trying to change the pay status of this person, and the tutor would be provided by the evidence-based model. Although professional development is an important component of teachers success at Lincoln, the lack of both common planning time and instructional coaches means that the principal and teachers cannot always do it as deeply or as regularly as they would like. As previously mentioned, the state will begin reimbursing 100 percent for kindergarteners in This means that some Title I funds will be available for reallocation. The principal talked about the possibility of using these funds to hire a reading coach for the school, which is also something the evidence-based model would provide. 18

37 Table B Staffing Chart for Lincoln Elementary School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 7 (.5 K teacher funded by Title I) Specialist Teachers 2 (.5 Art,.5 PE,.5 music,.5 band) Tutors 1 (Title I school wide in classrooms & out) ELL Teachers 0 Extended Day 3:15-6pm (funded by 21 st century grant) Summer School 4 weeks, 3 hr/day Alternative school NA Special Education Teachers for mild 1 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 1 severely disabled Special Education Aides 0 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds 0 Substitutes 10 days for each ADM generated teacher positions at $125/day plus benefits for total of $ Guidance counselor.5 Other pupil support staff 0 *Instructional aides 3.5 (1 is instructional interventionist; 2 funded with Title I) Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 2 Librarian(s).5 (1 shared with district) *Library aides.5 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 0 Secretary 1 Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 4 Instructional Coaches 0 19

38 Mary Stark Elementary School This case tells the story of how Mary Stark Elementary School in Mandan, North Dakota, steadily improved student performance over the past three years. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also describes the school s academic achievement gains over the past four years. Section two details the instructional improvement process at Mary Stark. Section three contains a table that lists the school s staff according to the elements of the adequacy-based model. Section four makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Mary Stark used to improve performance. Description of the school. Mary Stark Elementary School, located in the Mandan School District, served approximately 250 students in grades K-6 in the school year (in the school year, the school will add preschool students but no longer serve six graders). Mandan, located near Bismarck, is the largest city in Morton County, with approximately 20,000 residents, of whom 3,325 attend its public schools. Mary Stark is one of five elementary schools in the district. The school s population is predominantly Caucasian (81%); its largest minority group is American Indian (15%). Approximately 64 percent of students receive free or reducedprice lunch. Ten percent of students are either learning disabled or emotionally disabled, one percent are severely disabled, and 14 percent receive speech services. The school s goals are set by the district in terms of NCLB and adequate yearly progress. As Figure 8 illustrates, over the past three years, the school has been steadily improving in both reading and mathematics. Between and , reading scores went from 60 percent of students achieving at proficiency to 74 percent. Over the same time period, math scores climbed from 61 percent proficient to 78 percent. The next section describes the process that contributed to these gains. Figure 8 Achievement Data at Mary Stark, to Achievement Growth at Mary Stark Percent Proficient on State Assessment Reading Math Testing Year Reading Math 20

39 Mary Stark Elementary School s instructional improvement strategy. The principal of Mary Stark Elementary has been at the school for two years. He is a school leader who believes in being in the classroom as much as possible, giving teachers the support they need to do their jobs, and building an atmosphere of trust. When he came, staff were already engaged in a process similar to one that he had overseen in the school he led previously adoption of a balanced literacy program. There was one major difference, which was that although 64 percent of its students were low-income, Mary Stark was not a school wide Title I school. Believing it would enable the staff at Mary Stark to more deeply implement the balanced literacy program, the new principal converted the Title I funds from traditional pull-out to a school wide program. With the change to a school wide Title I program, the principal also created a school wide leadership team to help guide the school. He believed it was important to distribute leadership to ensure that decisions about the school did not seem dictatorial and that more individuals than just the principal were providing instructional leadership. The school wide team consists of the principal, the counselor, the reading specialist, four teachers (including one special education), the district literacy coach, two parents and a community member. The team meets monthly from 3:45 to 6:00 or 6:30pm, for which members of the team are paid an hourly stipend. One of the first roles of the school wide team was to analyze student performance data to help determine the direction of instructional improvement. Using data to guide instructional improvement is an important principle at Mary Stark. Students take the North Dakota State Assessment in the fall, and three times a year they take formative assessments called MAP (Measures of Academic Progress), a product of the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA). Although the school does not get the results of the state assessment until spring, the formative assessments allow teachers to identify students in need of extra help in a timely manner. Students at Mary Stark who are struggling with the concepts being taught have many different opportunities to get extra help. When identified as needing extra help by the classroom teacher, they are often directed to the resource room for extra help with the material during parts of the day when they are not missing core instruction. Four Title I reading specialists support students directly by being in classrooms during the 90-minute literacy block as well as providing tutoring. (Table 2 lists 3.25 rather than 4 teacher tutor positions, because these specialists spend a small portion of their time helping teachers.) Also, two of these specialists spend half of their time doing Reading Recovery, a tutoring program that helps ensure that early readers do not continue to fall behind. The school provides an after school program for 2.5 hours every day, where students can get help with homework from certified staff. Students can also attend an eight-week summer session to receive extra help. The principal has also contributed to the success at Mary Stark by providing in-depth professional development opportunities around instruction. North Dakota provides three studentfree days, but the principal expands that time for professional development by hiring substitute teachers to relieve regular classroom teachers for an hour and a half four times a year to meet in grade-level teams. Beginning in , part of this time will be devoted to review of student performance data. This process will be guided by a retired principal with expertise in this area who works for the Missouri River Education Commission (MREC). 21

40 In addition, teachers have a one-hour block of time each week to meet with their gradelevel colleagues, which the principal hopes will continue to develop into time that is focused on instruction. During this time, teachers occasionally meet with either the district literacy coach or the Title I reading specialists for assistance in improving the instruction they provide in the classroom. The principal is working hard to build a culture of learning at the school for adults and students. The culture at Mary Stark is supportive and all staff operate with the expectation that all students can learn. When the principal interviews someone for a teaching position, he always asks about the candidate s experience and comfort level working with students in poverty. He finds that experience with low-income students and an affinity for working with them is essential to being a successful teacher at a high-poverty school. One of the ways that the staff is successful with the balanced literacy program as well as the math program is by striving for a continuum of learning and a shared language across grades to provide that smooth flow; as students go from one grade to the next, they recognize aspects of their previous experience which provides a comfortable environment in which to learn. They use the Scott Foresman reading curriculum, but the staff expands on that because they realize that it is not going to reach all learners. The school s balanced literacy approach means that they also purchase leveled readers and big books for shared reading times during the 90 minute literacy block. Teachers devote 60 minutes to math each day. In terms of curriculum, the district had been using Saxon, which the staff was happy with and, as Table 1 reflects, students have been increasingly successful with it over the past three years. However, the district decided to switch to McGraw Hill for the school year, and teachers warned that there would be a drop in test scores because neither teachers nor students were used to it. (Such scores will not be available until spring 2009). The school also utilizes outside expertise, and in some cases funding, to be as effective as possible. For example, because the home-school relationship has been a challenge at Mary Stark, the principal secured a $10,000 grant from the National Network of Partnership Schools, which provides not only monetary resources but also professional knowledge about how to be successful in engaging low-income families in their children s education. In addition, the principal enjoys the support of the superintendent and the district office, and this office also brings in outside expertise to facilitate improvement. An example of this was the district hiring a literacy consultant to help its schools more fully implement balanced literacy. The main components of the success in raising student achievement at Mary Stark have been thorough review of individual-level data, more professional development for staff focused on instruction, the principal s building a school wide team to lead the school, converting to a school wide rather than pull-out Title I program so that all students in need of extra help can receive it, and setting up multiple extra help strategies to serve those students. The next section provides a chart detailing all the staff at Mary Stark Elementary School. Staff at Mary Stark Elementary School. Table C displays the staffing chart for Mary Stark Elementary School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few 22

41 cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal Title I funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. Table C Staffing Chart for Mary Stark Elementary School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 13 ½ day K 4 ; 2 sections 1-6 Specialist Teachers 1.33 PE and Music (Art in classrooms) Tutors 3.25 (Title I Reading Specialists fed funds) ELL Teachers 0 No ELL students *Resource Room Teacher 1 *Resource Room Aide 1 Extended Day 2.5 hrs/day M-F Summer School 8 weeks, 2 hr/day Alternative school N/A Special Education Teachers for mild 3 1 speech, 1 LD, 1 ED disabilities Special Education Teachers for severely disabled Special Education Aides 3.5 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds 0 Substitutes 0 (3 MR students are educated off-site) 10 days for each ADM generated teacher position at $125/day plus benefits for total of $ Guidance counselor 1 Other pupil support staff:.33 (serves three schools) Homeless coordinator *Instructional aides 1.75 (not part of model) Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 1.75 Librarian(s).33 (Serves three schools) *Library aides 1 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 0 Secretary 1 Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 3 from the district (Plus grade-level meetings 4x/year for 1.5 hours) Instructional Coaches.75 (.5 district literacy coach;.25 Title I reading specialists) *Position is not included in the Evidence-Based adequacy model 4 The school is moving to full-day kindergarten in

42 The last section concludes the case by summarizing the school s success and highlighting the direction in which the school is hoping to move; in some cases, these directions require more resources, many of which would be provided by the evidence-based model. Concluding points. As the student performance data show, student scores on the North Dakota State Assessment have improved over the past three years in both math and reading, but most dramatically in math, in which the percent proficient went up by 18 percentage points between and These gains have largely been achieved by close examination of student data from formative and summative assessments, professional development for teachers directly related to instruction, multiple extra-help strategies, and leadership focused on instruction at the school and district level. Two major changes are coming to Mary Stark in : preschool and full-day kindergarten. Although the district has offered preschool in previous years, it was formerly housed centrally and at some of the larger elementary schools but not at Mary Stark. With the change in state reimbursement for kindergarten from half-day to full-day for , the district decided to begin offering it at all the elementary schools. Positions associated with these changes are not included in Table 2, which displays the staff during There are a few areas where the principal believes more funding would facilitate the school improvement process. The school has benefited from the half-time district literacy coach, but the principal believes that having more time with an instructional coach on site could help further. (The evidence-based model would provide 1.25 coaches for a school of this size.) For example, if an instructional coach were present more, the person could be used to meet with teachers more regularly during their common planning time to help ensure that this time is used to discuss instruction. Also, professional development around instruction is a central part of the philosophy at Mary Stark, and the principal is hopeful that more resources to pay for time for teachers to engage in such learning opportunities will be available in the future. (The evidencebased model provides 10 professional development days.) More support for the home-school relationship would also be welcome, as this is a challenging area for the staff at Mary Stark because of the population they serve. (The evidence-based model would provide more pupil support staff.) Finally, although the average class size of 18 is equal to the resources provided by the evidence-based model, the kindergarten and first grade class sizes are 20 and 21, and the principal would like to be able to fund class sizes of 15 in grades K-3, as supported by research. Robert Place Miller Elementary School This case tells the story of how Robert Place Miller Elementary School in Bismarck, North Dakota, has improved student performance over the past four years. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also describes the school s academic achievement gains over the past four years. Section two details the instructional improvement process at Robert Place Miller. Section three contains a table that lists the school s staff according to the elements of the adequacy-based model. Section four makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Robert Place Miller used to improve performance. 24

43 Description of the school. Robert Place Miller Elementary School (RPM) is a K-8 school located in a residential neighborhood in northeast Bismarck. It enrolled 500 students in the school year, an enrollment that has remained pretty steady over the last few years. Most of the students in the school (88%) are white, with small percentages of Native American (7%), African American (1.5%), Hispanic (1.5%), and Asian (1%) students. One-quarter of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (the school is one of six Title 1 schools in the district) and a small number of them (1%) are homeless. The school has 1% of students designated as English Language Learners, 14% are students with disabilities and 11% participate in Gifted and Talented Education. Figure 9 shows the growth in student achievement for students at RPM for the last four years. The school has consistently had three-quarters of students proficient in Reading and Math performance has improved to similar levels. Figure 9 Achievement Data at Robert Place Miller Elementary School, to Achievement Growth at Robert Place Miller Elementary School Percent Proficient on State Assessment 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Reading 74% 81% 79% 75% Math 63% 79% 79% 77% Robert Place Miller Elementary School s instructional improvement strategy. The principal, Mr. John Alstad has just finished his first year as principal of the school. He is continuing the instructional improvement strategies begun at RPM before he arrived. One of those strategies is the use of Balanced Scorecard to keep track of school goals and progress toward those goals. The intent is to translate goals into action for the school. An important component of this for RPM is to get teachers to use data to differentiate instruction. They have recently adopted the use of Viewpoint, a data warehouse system that has proved to be a great tool to analyze student data. The school has dedicated half a day of professional development in the summer and two in-service days during the next school to train teachers in the use of the data warehouse. Currently, two lead teachers and the principal have had training and they will be sharing their knowledge with other teachers. 25

44 In order to improve reading achievement, the school has adopted a reading series that allows teachers to instruct at three different levels of reading ability in their classrooms (similar to guided reading). This strategy, too, as required an investment of professional development when it was first adopted. For students still struggling, the school provides extra instruction. At this point the extra time with a teacher occurs before or after school; however, no resources are allocated for an extended day which requires that teachers volunteer their time. (There is a tutoring program provided by the Parks and Recreation department that is available to students at RPM, but the program is small and the school does not consider it real alternative.) The following intervention for students not meeting expectations is to assemble a child study team for the student. The number of people on the team varies with each student and it may include, aside from the teacher, a special education teacher, school psychologist, social worker or the homeless family liaison. The goal of the team is to identify two to three interventions, monitor progress, and if those do not work look to something else. There are a number of people available for this team, including district personnel, such as a district Title VII Indian education coordinator. Some of the possible interventions include: shortened assignments, extra time with a teacher, a tutor from the high school or aide, or getting parents involved. Depending on the success of these interventions, the process of evaluating a student for special education services may begin here. The homeless students who attend the school have special needs that a homeless family coordinator is available to address. The coordinator also works with other schools in the district and helps families find housing, transportation, and jobs. The school also provides backpacks with school supplies for students and sometimes sends students home with food for the weekend. In the past, summer school has been available for all students, though struggling students are strongly and particularly encouraged to participate. It may, in the future, focus only on struggling students. Summer school occurs in two sessions, three weeks each, for four hours each day. The district is reimbursed by the state based on the number of struggling students enrolled. While the reimbursement is only for one of the sessions, students are encouraged to attend both. Of the approximately 177 total students served in the summer school program in 2008, 87 are struggling students attending both sessions. The school also places emphasis on professional development for teachers as a way of improving teaching and learning and feels supported by district PD opportunities. The district provides teachers with four days for staff developments. Two of those days are directed by the district (in , the two days were spent on six-trait writing) and two of those days are left to teacher choice and can things such as training on differentiated instruction, model teaching (a thematic instruction model), an emergency planning. In addition to these teacher PD days, the district provides training for three days prior to the beginning of the school year on topics such as the use and analysis of data for instruction and a workshop on poverty awareness (Ruby Payne s work). Prior to the beginning of the school year, teachers will receive training on the use of Viewpoint, the data warehouse system recently introduced into the school and district. 26

45 While there are no instructional facilitators or coaches in RPM, the district has a mentoring program for new teachers and new hires. During summer, new teachers have a seminar on being a new teacher in Bismarck and get paired up with a mentor teacher, who provides guidance using Charlotte Danielson s A Framework for Teaching. New teachers are also able to go into other teachers classrooms to observe teaching. The mentor teacher gets receives a small stipend and training to prepare for mentoring. Teacher prep time for teachers is from 7:45 to 8:00 a.m., and 3:05 to 3:45 in the afternoon. They also have a 45 minute lunch and 30 minutes during the day while students are in specials. Right now teachers meet with each other before or after school and are working to arrange the schedule so that they can have one hour of time each week for teachers to work together. The Title 1 resources at the school provide a critical support for struggling students. The school has three teachers, all reading specialists, and two aides funded by Title 1. The teachers and aides work with groups of 4 to 6 students at all grade levels and currently serve about 111 students. Within the classroom, the school has a couple of other programs. One is in the pilot state, a math program called Fast Math. This is a computer-based program that adjusts to the level of student proficiency and allows students the ability to work at their own pace. The other is a concerted effort to identify students who are at risk at failing in school and partner them up with an adult in the school who makes contact with them about three or four times a week. The adults are all school personnel and building these relationships with students are part of the job expectation. The goal is for the adult to check in with the student, be available, and reinforce the message that students matter. Staff at Robert Place Miller Elementary School. Table D displays the staffing chart for Robert Place Miller Elementary School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school has personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal Title I funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. A couple of things stand out from this staffing chart. Based on the small number of specialist teachers, it is clear that the focus of RPM is on instruction in the core academic subjects. The school has only 1 music, 1.25 PE and.25 art teachers the art teacher is shared with other schools in the district and provides one hour of instruction to each grade per month. Another thing to note is that aside from summer school, the support for struggling students comes primarily from Title 1 in the form of small group tutoring. One resource not found in the staffing table and one of the more critical elements in the evidence-based approach is the use of instructional coaches to help classroom teachers improve instruction. RPM would like more access to the Response to Intervention (RTI) coaches that are available to schools in the district participating in the program. Because RPM is not currently in the RTI program, they have limited access to the coaches. 27

46 Table D Staffing Chart for Robert Place Miller Elementary School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 22 Specialist Teachers 2.5 Tutors 3 Funded by Title 1 ELL Teachers 0 Extended Day 0 Summer School 1.6 Alternative school 0 Special Education Teachers for mild 2 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 1.2 severely disabled Special Education Aides 6 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds.8 Substitutes Guidance counselor 1 Other pupil support staff District allows approximately 1 sub day per teacher for PD.6 school nurse.5 psychologist.5 social worker Some access to the Homeless and Indian Education Coordinator in the district on an as needed basis Technology coordinator.2-.4 Some access to district person as needed *Instructional aides 3 2 funded by Title 1 Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 5 Librarian(s).6 *Library aides 1 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 0 Secretary 2 Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 4 Plus 3 inservice Instructional Coaches 0 District has RTI coaches, but not available to non-rti schools Concluding Points. Robert Place Miller Elementary School has been working to consistently raise the expectations for both teachers and students. The Balanced Scorecard 28

47 approach has helped the school articulate the expectations and focus on meeting them. The school is emphasizing using data to drive decision-making and is training teachers to do this. It s making use of available sources of information: the state assessment, NWEA s MAP assessment, the district benchmark tests that accompany the school s reading and math programs, DIBBELS for K-3 reading, and the district s writing assessment for all grades. Keeping track of all of these indicators is an investment of time, but one seen as critically important by the leadership of RPM. There is also an effort to include parents in the effort to raise expectation by conducting parent surveys and sending out monthly newsletters. The principal is a former coach who believes in leading the school as a team, where leadership and responsibility is shared across the school. Although achievement looks good, the school is aware of how much more work there is to do. Resources, or lack them, play a role in what RPM is able to provide to students. For example, the school would like to have a leveled guided reading library so that teachers can incorporate guided reading into their classrooms. They have seen this approach work in other schools in the district, but cannot bring it to RPM because of the cost. The school s efforts to keep class sizes small (primary grades average about 19 students per class, the higher grades about 22 or 23) has left the school feeling a bit of a crunch for space. The school is converting non-classroom space into classrooms and already makes extensive use of portable classroom buildings. Flexibility to move money around and prioritize how it is used is also a challenge for the school. While it does have a school account that it can use as needed, hiring people or making other personnel changes requires district approval. The fact that the school did not make AYP in reading this year, has increased the urgency for improving reading instruction. This August, the school will begin to implement the Professional Learning Community approach to staff development. This is something that began with a few teachers who wanted this and were able to get other teachers on board. Currently 20 teachers are involved; they will begin by reading the Richard DuFour book and meeting to discuss and incorporate the ideas into their practice. They also hope to bring in instructional facilitators into the school. There is potential for the school to better use existing Title 1 resources. The three teachers and two aides currently working with struggling students in reading are implementing a pull-out program, where students leave their regular classroom for tutoring and may be missing critical classroom experiences as a result. The Title 1 teachers are also reading specialists that could potentially provide valuable coaching to other teachers, but they are not currently taking this approach. 29

48 Victor Solheim Elementary School This case tells the story of how Victor Solheim Elementary School in Bismarck, North Dakota, has improved student performance over the past four years. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also describes the school s academic achievement gains over the past four years. Section two details the instructional improvement process at Victor Solheim. Section three contains a table that lists the school s staff according to the elements of the adequacy-based model. Section four makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders used to improve performance. Description of the school. Victor Elementary School is a K-6 school located in a residential neighborhood in Bismarck. It enrolled 504 students in the school year, an enrollment that has remained steady over the last few years. A vast majority (93%) of the students in the school are white, with a small percentage of Native American (3.7%) students, and a handful of African American (1%), Hispanic (1%), and Asian (<1%) students. The socioeconomic status of students and their families is mostly middle-income, with only 13.3% eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, though a small number of them come from homeless families living in shelters. The school had only two students designated as English Language Learners in and 14% were students with disabilities. The performance data in Figure 10 show the growth in student achievement for students at Victor Solheim for the last four years. Even though it began this time period with threequarters of students meeting proficiency standards on the state assessment, the school has continued to make consistent gains in both Reading and Math, with over 90% of students meeting proficiency in Math in the most recent year. Figure 10 Achievement Data at Victor Solheim Elementary School, to Achievement Growth at Victor Solheim Elementary School Percent Proficient on State Assessment 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Reading 75% 83% 87% 85% Math 76% 86% 89% 91% Victor Solheim Elementary School s instructional improvement strategy. The school s improvement strategy over the last few years has coincided with changes at the district level, 30

49 including a change in the curriculum. The district s efforts were aimed at improving instruction, which they discovered, would require new materials. They sought vast input from teachers and administrators in the adoption of the new textbooks, both to involve teachers and get a sense of buy-in or investment in the new curriculum. The principal, Mr. Jim Jeske, who has just finished his first year at the school, sees part of his role as monitoring closely the fidelity to the district s plan for improvement and continuing along the path successfully set out prior to his arrival. The school uses the Balanced Scorecard approach to measure its performance against a set of objectives that center around achievement for all students. The objectives focus on distributing accountability across all levels of the school and on the alignment of goals at all levels: district goals drive school goals which drive teacher goals, etc. Mathematics performance has been the center of much activity at Victor Solheim. The school has been working with the Northwest Education Association s (NWEA) Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) results and analyzing the data. They use the information to monitor the progress of every student and put in place interventions for additional help when needed (the principal refers to this as Response to Intervention without the label). They also dig into the content strands and analyze performance at that level. The school tries to do MAP testing three times a year in order to get more frequent feedback, but their ability to do this depends on resources available. The school and district have also put a lot of emphasis on professional development for teachers, to go along with the new curriculum materials, that has gone beyond the usual summer things. Teachers from across the district meet four times during the year to break down the standards and curriculum and explore how to improve their teaching strategies of that particular content. Teachers from Victor Solheim who attend these sessions bring the information back to the school and share with their fellow teachers. The district provides the trainers for approximately half of these sessions and the textbook company provides the other half. The principal feels that the district-run coaching is better for the schools teachers as the school and district staff have existing relationships. One recent addition to Victor Solheim s strategy kit is the Viewpoint data warehouse system, introduced in the school year. All teachers have access to the information for their students, including a comprehensive academic history, with state assessment and MAP information included. The school conducted four trainings this year, during staff meetings, on the use of Viewpoint. They took advantage of the capability to print out, by classroom, a roster of students who are novice or partially proficient. They can then break results down further and look at the particular content strands that need attention. Again, this focus on data is supported by efforts going on at the district level. The district has a data day set aside for principals to go over the analysis and use of data with teachers. The nature of planning and preparation time has also changed at the school. The school operates a six period day with one preparation period for teachers. K-2 teachers have scheduled collaboration time that allows them to meet in grade-level groups. The school is currently 31

50 rearranging the schedule to allow the remainder of grade levels the same opportunity. The goal is to have teachers meet and work collaborative a few times a month. The school would also like to have access to instructional coaches. Currently, the district has two math and two reading coaches as part of the Response to Intervention program available at few schools. While the coaches are available to non-rti schools, like Victor Solheim, on an as needed basis, they spend little time at the school. The principal does recognize that other schools in the district, especially Title 1 schools, have a more urgent need for coaches, but he still hopes that Victor Solheim will one day become a RTI school with access to those resources. While the focus at Victor Solheim has been in mathematics, reading is also important and is supported by professional development at the district. Data is analyzed, content strands are broken down and Balanced Scorecard goals are set and monitored. The school also employs the DIBBELS assessments of early reading in order to identify students who need help early and intervene. The school has also arranged its schedule to have uninterrupted reading from 9-11 each morning. The school expects to continue working on reading while also spending more time on writing in the future. Thus far, summer school at Victor Solheim, has been open to all students, not only those who are struggling, but the principal expects that this will change in the next year. Students who qualify for summer school will probably be those who are novice or partially proficient on state assessments. The content is also changing, says the principal, with more emphasis on reading and math and less field trips. Staff at Victor Solheim Elementary School. The staffing chart in Table E displays the staffing chart for Victor Solheim Elementary School using the categories from the evidencebased adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. The school has an average class size of students and provides limited electives for students, who have PE classes three times a week and music class twice a week. The art teacher is shared across other schools in the district and is only available at the school for 25% of the time. One thing to note in this table is the number of special education aides. The school has had a reputation of having a good special education program and it attracts district placements as well as families who choose to attend the school specifically for the program. In the school year, the school enrolled three students who required the assistance of a full time (one-toone) aide. A resource that is not listed in the table, but that the school would like to have is that of instructional facilitators. As the school continues to focus on professional development for teachers, the principal and teachers recognize how valuable they could be to their efforts. 32

51 Table E Staffing Chart for Victor Solheim Elementary School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 23 Specialist Teachers 2.25 Tutors (certified teacher) 1 ELL Teachers 0 Extended Day 0 Summer School 1.6 Alternative school 0 Special Education Teachers for mild 2.5 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 2 severely disabled Special Education Aides 11 3 students in the school have a one-on-one aide Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds.8 Substitutes District allows approximately 1 sub day per teacher for PD (2 when first introduced new curriculum) Guidance counselor 1 Other pupil support staff.5 social worker.2 occupational therapist.2 psychologist.8 speech therapist Technology coordinator.2-.4 Some access to district person as needed *Instructional aides 1 Provides tutoring Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 5 Librarian(s).6 *Library aides 1 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 0 Secretary 2 Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 1-2 Instructional Coaches 0 District has RTI coaches, but not available to non-rti schools 33

52 Concluding points. Mr. Jeske describes his leadership style as focused on results, while keeping an atmosphere one where teachers still have fun doing their jobs (he s a former coach and describes himself as a go-getter ). He emphasizes the use of data to inform what is happening in the classroom from differentiated instruction to how curriculum materials are used. It is clear the school likes their version of the Response to Intervention model for identifying and providing help to struggling students. They would like to be able to do this in all subject areas, as well as provide the professional development for teachers to implement it, but the resources are not available currently. They hope the district RTI program will be expanded to include their school in the future. They would also like additional resources for technology. They would like students to have more access to computers. The school has only one computer lab and one rolling lab, but the maintenance of the machines is a challenge and many are often non-functioning. They would also like to expand on their math efforts and think that Fast Math, a program that tracks the math progress of students, would work well with their existing math strategies, but they do not have the resources for it. Another constraint the principal sees is the lack of flexibility to move money around to fund different priorities. The school has a discretionary supply budget and about $1,500 for professional development, but not much beyond that. The school does make an effort to be creative with its resources. For example, any unused money from teachers supply budget is put into a pot to fund long-term (bigger) purchases. The school also recently applied for and received a grant to acquire smart boards in the grades 3-6 classrooms, consistent with their goal of incorporating more technology into the classroom. All teachers, whether they will be using a smart board or not, will receive training on the use of the technology. The school, helped by its PTO, is planning to have additional fundraisers to install the boards in all classrooms. The school s Parent Teacher Organization has raised $20,000 to $30,000 for the school in previous years, which the principal says is critical given that the school s demographics do not bring in any additional resources (e.g., Title 1 or other federal money). Volunteers have also been a valuable resource and one that the school tries to use well, particularly in providing additional one-to-one reading help to students. Even recess has been deployed differently in order to help students learn. The school is the only one in the district that has students go to recess before they eat lunch (the reverse is the norm) and the result has been that teachers spend less time getting students to settle down and focus once they return to the classroom. This has led to more time on task and, the principal believes, more learning. Victor Solheim Elementary School s performance on state assessments has continued to improve steadily despite being already high. While other schools might rest on their laurels having reached this level of performance, the mood at Victor Solheim is not one of complacency. 34

53 They have sought to make better use of existing resources and they have no lack of ideas as to how to use any additional resources they may have in the future. Beulah Middle School This case tells the story of how Beulah Middle School in Beulah, North Dakota, improved student performance. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also illustrates the school s academic achievement gains. The second section details the school improvement process. The third section three lists the school s staff according to the categories of the evidence-based adequacy model and shows where the school s staffing deviates from the model. The last section makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Beulah Middle used to improve performance and the direction in which they would like to go in the future. Description of the School. Beulah Middle School serves 212 students in grades 5-8. The school is located in the community of Beulah, which has 3,200 residents and the highest per capita income in the state due to coal mining and energy production. The district serves 696 students who come from Beulah and, in recent years, three nearby communities: Zap, Golden Valley and Dodge. Even with the consolidation of these three small communities, Beulah is a declining enrollment district. The student population is predominantly white (98 percent) and non-poor (only 11 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch). Thirteen percent of students are in special education. The average class size is 19, and all core courses are held in the mornings. The school s student achievement goals, set by the district, are based on NCLB s mandate for adequate yearly progress. As Figure 11 illustrates, reading scores on the North Dakota State Assessment (NDSA) at Beulah have been high in all the years shown, peaking in at 90 percent of students at proficiency. In math, scores on the state assessment have steadily improved over the four years shown; between and the percent proficient went up 18 points. The school improvement process that contributed to the high reading scores and math gains is described in the next section. 35

54 Figure 11 Beulah Middle School Performance Data, to Achievement Growth at Beulah Middle School Percent proficient on state assessment Reading Math Testing year Reading Math Beulah Middle School s instructional improvement strategy. The principal of Beulah Middle School has been leading the school for 16 years. Her leadership style is heavily influenced by Rick DuFour, whose book Whatever It Takes, helped convince her that if students were not learning, teachers needed to adapt their instruction. She expects her staff to buy into the philosophy that all students can learn, and embrace the systemic reforms being implemented in the school to increase student learning. In return, she tries very hard to support teachers in any way she can. The principal also has a school leadership team to help guide the instructional improvement process. The team consists of team leaders at each grade level, two specialists and a special educator. Student achievement data is a significant driver of instructional improvement at Beulah Middle School. Since , students have been taking the Northwest Education Assessment (NWEA) Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) each year in both the fall and the spring. The principal calls the data from these tests powerful, and she reviews it carefully herself, with the school leadership team, and with individual teachers. She credits NCLB with forcing schools to pay attention to every student, and notes that this is true of students across the spectrum of achievement. Now that they are monitoring the growth of every student, they have to ensure that the struggling students get help and the higher-end learners are challenged. Over the last three years, the school has been pursuing accreditation from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, a voluntary process that includes an evaluation from an outside group. It also involved the opportunity to bring external professional knowledge into the school, such as a curriculum specialist from Fargo. This process is led by the school leadership team. In preparation for the outside evaluation, school staff had to have a frank conversation about the fact that teachers were not reaching all kids. In response, school leaders implemented a school wide approach based on intervention rather than 36

55 remediation that included a number of strategies to help struggling students. They call this approach the Pyramid of Interventions, the components of which are described below. One of these extra-help strategies is called 5 th period, which students are required to attend if they have a late or incomplete assignment. The teacher of the class for which the student has not turned in an assignment completes a form that is given to the 5 th period teacher explaining the assignment. The student is then required to attend 5 th period and complete the assignment. All of this is tracked and recorded in Powerschool, a student management system that allows staff to communicate online with each other and parents about absences, test results and more. After implementing 5 th period, staff found that there were still students who were not responding and not turning in work. School leaders then decided to add a mandatory hour of detention after school every time a student accrues three required 5 th periods, and students are now taking it much more seriously. Another strategy for 5 th and 6 th graders are math and reading intervention blocks, which are intended to enhance instruction of both high-end learners and struggling students by adding an additional classroom teacher and a Para educator to the classroom. In the case of mathematics, the additional teacher is called the math interventionist. These extra adults in the room provide one-on-one and small group instruction. Often it is the classroom teacher who works with the students who are struggling most. In order to implement this intervention system three years ago, the principal had to switch the 5 th and 6 th grade teachers to a common schedule so that they could get more hands on deck during these reading and math periods. This meant that the teachers had to give up some autonomy up to that point they could teach what they wanted to when they wanted to teach it but they were willing to give that up because they saw that the kids needed more help. Fifth and sixth grade students who are eligible for Title I are sometimes pulled out of the classroom for extra help. The strategy for reaching 7 th and 8 th graders identified as performing below grade level is called 2 nd Math (and 2 nd Reading).These programs are also referred to as Targeted math and Targeted reading, because they focus on the concepts the students have not yet mastered or that are coming up and may be particularly difficult. This supplementary period of instruction gives these students the additional time and support they need to get back on track. One way of referring to this process is pre-teach and re-teach, but this extra math and/or reading is taught by a highly qualified instructor who is conscious of not simply re-teaching the material using the same instructional strategy the teacher used when the student was first introduced to it. Seventh and eighth grade students who are eligible for Title I also sign up for Title I reading in their afternoon schedule. Yet another support for 7 th and 8 th graders who are struggling is called Directed Study. Every Monday during teaming, teachers review the ineligibility list as a starting point for their conversation about who needs to go to Directed Study. These students are then pulled from them 8 th period Tuesday through the following Monday to receive one-on-one or small group instruction in the area in which they are struggling. A certified Para educator provides the instruction and offers assistance to students who need help completing work. Attendance in 8 th period is mandatory and it is recorded in Powerschool, but it changes weekly based on the 37

56 specific needs of students. Students in 8 th period also have to go to after school, an extra help strategy described in the following paragraph. Beulah Middle School also offers a before- and after-school program which is mandatory for 7 th and 8 th graders below grade level and suggested (with parent approval) for 5 th and 6 th grade students who are underperforming. This time is provided to give students an opportunity and support for completing their work. Every Monday-Thursday, the before school program is held 7:45-8:10am daily and the after school program is held 3:10-3:45pm. Both of these are staffed by a Para educator. The school provides transportation for students who are required to stay after school if the parents cannot come and pick them up. (Occasionally this means that the principal will drive kids home at the end of the day.) Because of these interventions, students who need extra help may spend up to 120 minutes a day in math and 80 minutes in reading. 7 th and 8 th grade students who receive a D or F in a class have to attend mandatory group therapy sessions with the school counselor. Extra help is also available during the summer for 60 hours of instruction. Students with 20 or more absences and/or those who have failed a class are required to go to summer school. The staff has had success with this mandatory rather than voluntary approach, which is also true of 5 th period, but it has been a culture change for students. Those students from the lowerincome, surrounding rural communities of Zap, Golden Valley and Dodge are particularly surprised by the fact that the school staff simply does not offer the option of failing with no one noticing. The principal sometimes does home visits to explain the school s approach to struggling students to parents or guardians. The school also communicates through a weekly newsletter both in print and on the website, as well as through Powerschool. Professional development is also an important piece of the school s success. Teachers have six student-free days, two in August, one in January, and three that are used for cafeteriastyle programs in which teachers can choose which professional development they attend. (Paraprofessionals are also invited to participate in staff development.) The principal then follows up with teachers to see how and whether they apply what they have learned in their classroom. The days in August are not based around instructional improvement, but the day in January is this past year it was used to analyze data and refine instructional improvement at the school. The principal is also a big believer in collaboration with schools with similar characteristics; in , one of the staff development activities will be roundtable discussions with educators from a nearby community. The principal also holds voluntary book studies, which teachers can participate in to learn more about instruction. This is the format in which the principal introduced some of her staff to DuFour s work in Whatever It Takes. Although it is the high flyers who initially participate in such voluntary professional development opportunities, the principal finds that those teachers then begin talking to their colleagues and often word spreads in that way. Because that particular book was so significant for her and some of her staff, she decided to offer it again in a subsequent year, when more teachers decided to join her in reading it. 38

57 In addition, 7 th and 8 th grade teachers have teaming every day (5 th and 6 th grade teachers have collaborative time two or three times a week), during which time teachers are supposed to meet for 50 minutes to talk about instruction. Although the teachers also have a prep period, the principal said that teaming time is not always used to talk about instruction. She sometimes gives them a goal or checks in to help ensure that the time is used as intended, but obviously cannot do this every day. The technology coordinator sometimes attends team meetings to see what is coming up in the curriculum and how she can help integrate technology into the classroom. The principal evaluates staff on their instructional performance, and if they are underperforming, she begins by informally giving suggestions for improvement including books, videos and professional development programs. This past year, she had to non-renew a 26-year veteran who, over the course of three years, did not respond to suggestions for improvement. The teacher tried to argue that it was not her teaching but her students who were to blame for the low test scores, but the principal used the student test scores from previous years to prove that was not the case. The principal says that this teacher s response to her pointing out patterns in the data is the exception and not the rule; most teachers trust her and are eager to improve. When the principal interviews prospective teachers, she asks them questions that help her discern whether the person is compatible with a team-based approach. The next section provides a chart detailing all the staff at Beulah Middle School. Staff at Beulah Middle School. The staffing chart in Table F displays the staffing chart for Beulah Middle School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal Title I funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. 39

58 Table F Staffing Chart for Beulah Middle School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers th ; 3 6 th ;6 7 th & 8 th ;.14 5 th period supervisor Specialist Teachers 2.76 PE, Art, Music, Tech Tutors 1.5 (.5 Title I reading specialist; 1.0 Math Interventionist) ELL Teachers.165 District has.5 ELL Extended Day 60 minutes/day M-R, staffed by para Summer School 60 hours (state reimbursed) Alternative school N/A Special Education Teachers for mild 1.2 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 1 severely disabled Special Education Aides 2.5 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds 0 Substitutes 10 days for each ADM generated teacher positions at $125/day plus benefits for total of $ Guidance counselor.8 Technology Facilitator.25 *Curriculum Technology Partner.33 *Instructional aides 2 Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 1 Librarian(s).5 *Library aides.5 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 0 Secretary 1 Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 6 3 district; 3 site-directed Instructional Coaches 0 The last section concludes the case by summarizing the school s success, the direction in which the school is hoping to move, and the cases in which resources provided by the evidencebased model would help them continue to improve. Concluding points. As the principal put it, staff agree that failure is not an option at Beulah and the test scores displayed above in the performance table corroborate this statement. Between 2004 and 2008, reading test scores on the North Dakota State Assessment have been consistently high, and math scores went up 18 points. These student achievement successes have 40

59 largely been achieved through a culture of high expectations, analysis of student test score data, professional development around instruction, and multiple extra help strategies for struggling students. The principal has worked hard to create a culture of shared responsibility where everyone learns, including adults. But without coaches, helping teachers change instruction is difficult. She tries to help with this process, and teachers model instructional strategies for each other in staff meetings, but a coach could work with teachers during teaming and generally enhance professional learning at the school. The evidence-based model would provide this coach. The principal also mentioned that she had enjoyed the support of a superintendent who had been in place for 10 years, but he was replaced with someone who did not offer support and was there for 2 years. She is hopeful that the new superintendent will be leader in instructional improvement. Discovery Middle School This case tells the story of how Discovery Middle School in Fargo, North Dakota, has improved student performance over the past four years. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also describes the school s academic achievement gains over the past four years. Section two details the instructional improvement process at Discovery MS. Section three contains a table that lists the school s staff according to the elements of the adequacy-based model. Section four makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Discovery MS used to improve performance. Description of the school. Discovery Middle School is located a newly developed residential neighborhood on the south side of Fargo, an area experiencing a lot of growth. The school enrolled 840 students in grades 6 th through 8 th in the school year. Due to the area s rapid growth, the school was reconfigured two years ago (it used to house 9 th graders) and will be reconfigured again next year (it will house 5 th graders). The school is located in a fairly affluent area of town with many parents who stay at home or have flexible jobs which results in a high degree of parental involvement and the largest PTA in the state. Most students are white (88%), 6.2% are African American, and a small percentage are Hispanic (1.4%), Asian (2.9%), and Native American (1.2%). 14.6% of students at Discovery MS are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 3% are designated as English Language Learners and 8.9% are students with disabilities. Figure 12 shows the performance of Discovery MS students on the North Dakota State Assessment for the past four years. Since the school has increased student achievement in reading and, more dramatically, in mathematics. 41

60 Figure 12 Discovery Middle School Performance Data, to Achievement Growth at Discovery Middle School Percent Proficient on State Assessment 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Reading 68% 70% 82% 76% Math 55% 67% 84% 83% Discovery Middle School s instructional improvement strategy. The first thing one notices about Discovery Middle School is its structure. The school is arranged as a series of small schools within the larger middle school. Students are assigned to one of ten houses where teacher teams use interdisciplinary units and loop with students (meaning they follow the same group of students for multiple years). This allows students to have a place where they know they belong and gives faculty, staff, and administrators (counselors and principals also loop ) the opportunity to establish and maintain relationships with students. The school operates a 9-period day, where the first period is large group music for all grades and the second period is an advisory period, leaving in essence a 7-period day with a full course offering. Instruction consists of five core classes and two electives for all grades. Each house has a two hour block of language arts instruction, with math, social studies and sciences rounding out the rest of the core. Electives beyond PE and music (choir, band, and orchestra) include fine arts, business and technical, family and consumer, and health education classes. The school also operates on a quarter system instead of traditional semesters. This allows students the opportunity to add valuable classes to their schedule, like a tools for school class that teaches students how to use computers for research and presentations, a course on critical thinking or a foreign language class. While the quarter system does have some advantages, the school will be looking at possibly changing this because the 9-week changes can also be difficult. The school operates an Individualized Learning Center (ILC) where students who are struggling can get support in the form of individualized tutoring from one certified teacher and one paraprofessional. This takes place, during the school day, as one of the elective classes. There is also a remedial reading program, another class offering, where teachers use the Read 180 program to differentiate instruction to whatever level the student needs.. Students attend 42

61 these for the semester, but this can be flexible depending on the student; a student who is no longer is struggling returns to a regular course. In addition to the ILC and reading program, the school offers Fast Math to students who are behind in Math. The program is a form of computerized instruction that tracks progress and adjusts to the level of each student. There are also resources for students whose challenges are not academic. Outreach counselors come to the school to deal with drugs, alcohol, violence, and other challenges some students face. There is also a school resource officer housed in the building and the school has a policy of pressing charges against students who engage in fights. For less serious infractions, the school works with suspended students and their parents to develop a plan so that students are not just sitting at home missing valuable instruction. Students must also participate in community service as part of this plan. Summer school at Discovery MS is focused on remediation for students needing extra help. It takes place during the month of June, and all students take two hours of math and two hours of reading. Classes have about 15 students each and are taught by teachers from other schools in the district. This is done purposefully the idea is that exposure to the same set of teachers may not be the best idea. The curriculum they use is meant to be adapt to different levels, according to need, and has built-in assessments to monitor progress. The school has made a concerted effort to do away with the idea of summer school as punishment; it is for those that need the remediation, not to punish bad behavior. In order to encourage good attendance, any student who misses 10 hours of instruction is out. The instructional improvement efforts at Discovery MS are aligned with the direction the district has taken in emphasizing the use of data to inform instruction and professional development for teachers. The district has incorporated Charlotte Danielson s frameworks and rubrics for teaching into its evaluation system for all teachers. Goals for teachers now have to be aligned to the district and school goals and reflect the frameworks and rubrics. The district uses a train the trainer model for much of its professional development, but at the middle school level a lot of the PD is done through the classes teachers need to take in order to be middle level endorsed. Teachers receive a stipend to their salary when they are endorsed; as a result, many teachers have the endorsement. The district also conducts a Middle Level Institute where the district brings nationally-recognized trainers to the district, an option that is more cost effective than sending a group of teachers to a national training. Topics vary and in the last few years have included differentiated instruction, bullying, and team teaching. The school will also be incorporating the Professional Learning Communities approach into the building in the school year. The goal is to focus teachers more on the collaborative aspect of their work and also reflect on their instructional practice. This effort will fit in well with the existing on-site teacher coaching and preparation times available at Discovery MS. The school has four teachers who serve as instructional coaches, though coaching is a small part of their job and together total only approximately.5 FTE. One of the coaches works weekly with staff, while the other three work on a particular strategy less frequently. With the school adopting the PLC approach, this coaching may expand. Teachers now have two preparation 43

62 periods during the 7-period day, one to be used for personal preparation time and the other to do collaborative work with other teachers. The principal, Ms. Linda Davis has been at Discovery MS for four years and believes in a collaborative approach to leadership. The school has a leadership council that meets every two weeks to deal with specific issues that arise in the school. She also believes that people work best if you focus on strength and not remediation (though that may be needed sometimes). Her goal is to get teachers the training and skills they need to best serve students. The school is fortunate to be in a city with a university, she says, as this allows teachers many more opportunities to develop their skills or obtain a Master s degree than their counterparts in other districts. Her role is also to set the expectations for teachers. This is done through the school and district goals, the evaluation system and, for new teachers, the school s new teacher mentoring program. Staff at Discovery Middle School. The staffing chart in Table G displays the staffing for Discovery Middle School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. The school also has access to an ELL social worker, a drug/alcohol abuse counselor, and a child abuse counselor on an as needed basis, but they are not school or district employees. They are funded through other community services, but serve Discovery MS students at the school when needed. One thing that stands out in the table above is the number of specialist teachers, almost 50% over the number of core teachers. This number includes 4.5 PE, 5.9 music, 3 Fine Arts, and 7.8 health, technical and business education teachers. The large number of elective classes available for students in a result of the 7-period and quarter system structure of the school. Professional development is definitely a priority at Discovery MS and the district as a whole. The teacher contract contains 8 days for PD, more than most districts in the state. Teachers also have two preparation periods during the 7-period day, one for personal preparation and one for collaborative work with each other, something that could provide fertile soil for more instructional coaching, something largely lacking at the school. Concluding points. Discovery Middle School s school-within-a-school structure allows for students to have a sense of belonging and to develop a relationship with teachers, support staff, and administrators assigned to their house over a number of years. This, along with the district s focus on professional development for teachers and the interventions in place for struggling students has allowed Discovery MS to do very well on the state assessments. However, the principal and her staff know that more works need to be done. 44

63 Table G Staffing Chart for Discovery Middle School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 44.8 Specialist Teachers 21.2 Tutors 1 ELL Teachers 2 Extended Day 0 Summer School.5 Alternative school 0 Special Education Teachers for mild 4 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 1 severely disabled Special Education Aides 5 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds 1 Substitutes Guidance counselor 3 Other pupil support staff.75 school nurse.1 psychologist 1 SRO Technology coordinator 1 *Instructional aides 1.5 Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 1.5 Librarian(s) 1 *Library aides 2 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 2 Secretary 5 Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 8 Instructional Coaches.5 --Nurse funded by county health department --District psychologist shared --SRO is funded by police dept and is PD employee (district funds small part) All of the teachers at Discovery MS are secondary certified and while this is an advantage in terms of their content knowledge, few are specialized in language arts/reading instruction. This level of training would help them better identify and address more elementary reading challenges. Even so, the principal recognizes that the amount of professional development opportunities available through the district are many, sometimes more than teachers 45

64 are ready for or want to do. Still, she says, they are much more fortunate than other districts and does not want her school to take that for granted. But even given the amount of PD available, there is a need for more. Another area where the school needs to focus is in the use of student assessment information. They are currently using the state assessment, the district s formative assessments, and the Northwest Education Association s (NWEA) Measure of Academic Progress results to help with the placement of students into differentiated instruction groups. They have also introduced Viewpoint, a data warehouse system that allows teachers to see the academic history of teachers and analyze test results by groups of students. According to the principal, they are baby stepping on the use of data and getting better, but given the amount of information now available, there is a lot more they could be doing. Still, there is the concern that there is always a new initiative or the feeling that there is always some thing new to do which may lead some teachers to want to close their door. The principal has to balance this out with the understanding that it is her job to keep pushing; knowing that without pushing things may not be done. Williston Middle School This case tells the story of how Williston Middle School in Williston, North Dakota, dramatically improved student performance. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also illustrates the school s academic achievement gains. The second section details the school improvement process. The third section lists the school s staff according to the categories of the evidence-based adequacy model and shows where the school s staffing deviates from the model. The final section makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Williston used to improve performance. Description of the School. Williston Middle School is located in Williston, a community of 12,000 people in the northwest corner of the state. The district serves approximately 2075 students, 390 of whom are enrolled at the middle school level in grades seven and eight. At the middle school, most of the students are Caucasian (86 percent), and the largest minority population is American Indian (12 percent). Thirty-six percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and 13 percent are enrolled in special education. The school has a sevenperiod day, and teachers have two preparation periods. The district sets the school s student achievement goals according to NCLB s mandate for adequate yearly progress, but the principal then sets them a little bit higher. As shown in Figure 13, over the last four years, the percent of students reaching proficiency on the North Dakota State Assessment rose in both reading and math. Between and , reading scores went up12 percentage points, from 72 to 84 percent proficient, and math scores went up 23 percentage points, from 63 to 86 percent proficient. Although reading and math scores are the only ones that officially count, the principal believes in a proactive strategy, and so she has begun to emphasize science because it is likely to be the next subject to be part of the 46

65 accountability structure. The school improvement process that contributed to the reading and math gains is described in the next section. Figure 13 Williston Middle School Performance Data, to Achievement Growth at Williston Middle School Percent proficient on state assessment Reading Math Testing Year Reading Math Williston Middle School s instructional improvement strategy. The principal of Williston Middle School has been at the school for six years. In many ways, she has transformed the culture at the school, bringing a focus on research-based instructional strategies. She changed the mantra from test and hope for the best to assess and expect success. But she has not done it alone. She is part of a school leadership team that meets biweekly to analyze data and help decide the direction of instructional improvement. The school leadership team includes the team leader from each team, a special education teacher and an elective teacher. The principal appreciates the fact that NCLB makes them accountable for every student, and analysis of student test score data is an important part of school improvement at Williston Middle School. Each year, students take the North Dakota State Assessments in the fall and the Northwest Education Assessment (NWEA) Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) in both the fall and the spring. On test-taking days, the principal gets out a bubble machine and makes sure that all the students have brain food for breakfast. The principal and teachers then share the results with students one-on-one, and display the results on the BUGS (Bringing Up Grades Successfully) wall; all of these strategies help foster an environment of engagement and results. Perhaps most importantly, assessment results are used to drive instruction standards and benchmarks that students have not mastered form the basis of the instruction provided in the extra periods for struggling students described below. Also shaping the nature of instructional improvement at Williston Middle School is the fact that they are pursuing accreditation from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, a voluntary process that includes an evaluation from an 47

66 outside group. This process gives guidelines for school improvement that have helped the school achieve its successes. Another change that the principal brought to the school is an emphasis on research-based curricula. When the principal came to the school in 2002, there was no curriculum replacement plan, and the language arts books were from Now, the school uses McGraw-Hill, and supplements it with Write Source, material from the web, Inquiry Math, and many other programs that the principal and school leadership team identify as valuable for the students. One of these programs is SSL, which stands for Supporting Student Literacy. SSL ensures that an explicit focus on literacy is a part of every student s daily schedule. For 20 minutes of their advisory period, students are expected to read silently, write, discuss reading and participate in read-alouds. Willliston Middle School has one extra help strategy specifically targeted to students who struggle with reading. Students with below-grade level reading skills must enroll in an elective called reading workshop. In this class, a specially trained teacher provides instruction in reading that is directly related to the curriculum but not a simple re-teaching of the same material in the same way. Many extra help strategies at Williston are for students who are struggling in reading or math, or both. For example, an after school program is mandatory for students who are not on target to pass their classes and test on grade level. The 45-minute per day program is called period 8, and the certified teaching staff works really hard to make it fun for the students even while they are learning core concepts. The mandatory nature of the program did not go over well with parents at first, but the school purchased Quizdom, in which students use clickers as if they are on a game show, which has made it more popular with students. Another extra help strategy for students having difficulty in reading or math is summer school. This program consists of 64 hours of instruction and is focused on students who received a D or F in core courses. The principal said that many students were turned away from summer school because it was so difficult to find teachers. Two other strategies for providing extra help include a resource room staffed in the afternoons by at Title I teacher who specifically helps Title I students and a tutor paid for with Title VII funds who specifically works with American Indian Students. Because neither of these programs are part of the school wide strategies for serving students who are struggling, the principal believes they are not as effective as they could be. The principal is very clear that staff development is the key to improving student achievement. Each year when she receives her budget, she immediately takes 20 percent off the top and reserves it expressly for that purpose. With the help of the school leadership team, she created a professional development plan for the school. This plan includes such entries as principal walk-through training to provide support for pd activities; utilize Anne Tweed (McREL) to train teachers on use of rubrics, a variety of classroom assessments and differentiating instruction. 48

67 As indicated by one of the plan s entries quoted above, the principal believes in bringing expert knowledge to the school to help facilitate teachers professional growth. Some examples of experts she has brought in to coach teachers in the classroom are Chris Stefani and Sam Bennett. These coaches observe teachers in their classroom and challenge them to improve, ing the teachers after they ve left the school and expecting them to write back. Because the school does not have on-site instructional coaches, these consultants combined with the instructional coaching the principal tries to do comprise the current coaching at Williston Middle School. To further facilitate professional growth, the principal created teams of teachers, each of which have a teaming period every day. Each team has a designated space to meet complete with a coffeepot and smartboard. However, the principal found that when teaming was first implemented, the time was often used not to focus on instruction but to complain about particular students. In an effort to ensure that this time is used for instructional improvement, the principal specified the use of some of the team time: at least one day a week must be devoted to curriculum; each Wednesday Marcia is involved and often brings in a consultant to work with teachers on her day (as described above); once every other week they discuss students at risk of academic failure; and once a month is dedicated to technology. In addition, staff meetings are held weekly, and sometimes this time is used to analyze student test score data. Also, when she brings in a consultant, she often arranges a special data meeting to take full advantage of the consultant s time (this occurs approximately once a month for a full day). An additional day was spent this past year on reading across the curriculum. Also, the district releases students an hour early three times per year for staff development. The principal is very much a strong instructional leader, providing binders of researchbased material to teachers as well as all of the opportunities for active learning described above. Every year at the beginning of the year, she sits down with teachers to go over their SMART goal for the coming year, making sure that it is directly related to the goals of the school and measurable. At the end of the year, she sits down with every teacher again to revisit the goal and see if it was met. But she also believes in a collegial atmosphere, and supports teachers in their desire to try new things. She will go along with it even if it is not supported by research because she finds that sometimes teachers need to see for themselves to believe the research. The next section provides a chart detailing all the staff at Williston Middle School. Staff at Williston Middle School. Table H displays the staffing for Williston Middle School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal Title I funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. The last section concludes the case by summarizing the school s success, the direction in which the school is hoping to move, and the cases in which resources provided by the evidencebased model would help them continue to improve. 49

68 Table H Staffing Chart for Williston Middle School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 15 Specialist Teachers 7.14 Tutors.4 (Title VII funded) ELL Teachers 0 *Resource Room Teacher.28 (Title I funded) Extended Day 45 minutes/day (reading and math taught by cert teachers) Summer School 64 hours (Prioritized D & F kids, not enough teachers) Alternative school N/A Special Education Teachers for mild 3.28 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 1 severely disabled Special Education Aides 4.5 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds 0 Substitutes 10 days for each ADM generated teacher positions at $125/day plus benefits for total of $ Guidance counselor 1 Other pupil support staff 1 (similar to counts/ap) *Instructional aides 0 Non-instructional (supervisory) aides.2 Librarian(s) 1 *Library aides.8 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 1 Secretary 1 Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 10 (school-directed) Instructional Coaches 0 Concluding points. As the performance table showed, student performance on the North Dakota State Assessment has risen significantly at Williston Middle School. Math scores went up from 63 percent proficient in to 86 percent proficient in , and over the same time period, reading scores went from 72 to 84 percent. This has largely been accomplished by having a principal who is a strong instructional leader; multiple, ongoing opportunities for staff development for teachers that are focused on instruction and involve working with outside experts; research-based curricula; careful assessment of student achievement data; a mantra that every child can succeed and multiple extra help strategies in place to help them do so. 50

69 The principal is proud of the progress they have made at the middle school but believes in continuous improvement and thus she is always focused on what can next be done to facilitate more progress. One of the issues she sees, as mentioned above, is that the summer school program of 64 hours of instruction for D and F students goes very quickly and is not enough time to reach all the students who need help. She also noted that it was difficult to find enough teachers to staff the program the evidence-based model would assist with this problem by providing funding specifically for summer school teachers. The principal believes in the principle of using instructional coaches to help teachers improve in the classroom. She uses professional development funds to bring in consultant to fulfill this role on an occasional basis, and in the absence of the resources to purchase full-time, on-site coaches, she tries to fulfill this role. But she cannot do as much as a person whose job is dedicated specifically to these tasks. The evidence-based model would provide those coaches for the school, and one way they could be used is to help teachers focus on instructional improvement during teaming. Also, the tutoring offered at the school, paid for with categorical funds, is specific to certain students and not part of the school wide extra help strategy. Tutors provided by the evidence-based model could be used as directed by the principal and school leadership team to help foster higher levels of student achievement at the school. Grafton High School Case Study This case study tells the story of how Grafton High School in Grafton, North Dakota, improved student performance over the past four years. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also describes the school s academic achievement gains over the past four years. Section two details the instructional improvement process as carried out by the principal and teachers at Grafton High School. Section three contains a table that lists the school s staff according to the framework provided by the evidence-based adequacy model. Section four makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Mary Stark used to improve performance. Description of the school. Grafton High School is the only high school serving the community of Grafton, ND. The district also has one elementary, one middle and one high school with a total enrollment of 895 in In , Grafton H.S. enrolled 290 students, with nearly one-third (32%) eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The principal, Mr. Darren Albrecht, indicated that the community is one of income extremes with a large portion of the student population coming from farming families or parents working for the oil pipeline and doing well financially, including some millionaires, and the other large portion of students coming from poverty their parents work the farmland with very few students from families in the middle of these two extremes. Seventeen percent of students at Grafton HS have an Individualized Education Plan, 76% of students are white and the remainder Hispanic, with a handful of Native American students. Only five students were designated as English Language Learners in the school year. 51

70 The high school is situated on the same campus as a regional vocational center, but the two are separate entities. While the center has its own director and takes in students from neighboring districts, Grafton High School has access to a lot of the vocational center s classes as electives for its students. This vocational center gives Grafton students the opportunity to earn college credits and this is an opportunity emphasized by the school. Figure 14 shows the academic achievement at Grafton High School for the past four years. While the school has shown growth in both subjects, the greater gain has been in Mathematics. Figure 14 Grafton Middle School Performance Data, to Achievement Growth at Grafton High School Percent Proficient on State Assessment 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Reading 75% 64% 71% 78% Math 52% 48% 60% 66% Grafton High School s instructional improvement strategy. When Mr. Albrecht arrived at Grafton High School three years ago, the school had been without a stable principal for some time. One of the first things he did was to address the issue of outdated textbooks (some as many as 20 years old) and worked with teacher groups to purchase new instructional materials in all the core content areas. The textbook selection process also changed. The school now creates textbook selection committees comprised of teachers, parents, administrators, and board members. The school and district feel it important to have all parties involved in order to instill a sense of ownership over what is chosen and also help them let go of outdated materials. Following the selection of new curriculum materials, teachers then began looking at data, particularly the Adequate Yearly Progress reports and the results of the NWEA s MAP assessment. What they found was that minority and poor students were struggling the most, but all groups were struggling. When assessing the performance data for new sophomores, they saw that only fifty percent were meeting standards. 52

71 The school has begun to address this by working with the Northwest Education Association (NWEA) to align their curriculum to the standards. Within the school, the principal and assistant principal make time to sit with teachers in content groups and look at data and talk about it, discussing how specific students are measuring up against the standards. This, the principal feels, leads to more ownership for student learning on the part of teachers. District efforts are also aligned to this student centered practice; the district has adopted the Response to Intervention approach which will offer an opportunity to get more resources into the school to help struggling students. Extended day strategies are also in place at Grafton High School. The school offers before-school tutoring to students who need the extra help. Tutoring is provided by a certified teacher and is available four days a week. The 8 th period study hall provides a quiet place for students to do homework as needed and is staffed by 1 certified teacher. Another important component in improving instruction has been the training for teachers with Ruby Payne. Her Framework for Understanding Poverty has provided useful insight and strategies for teachers and administrators in the school as they work to improve the achievement levels of poor students. This has resulted in the hiring of a drug and alcohol counselor for the district, but more remains to be done. The high school would like a full-time social worker (it currently shares one with the other schools in the district) or a parent/family liaison help build relationships between the school and some families. One particular challenge is the cultural acceptance of dropping out among many families. This, coupled with the state compulsory education age of 16, makes getting some students to graduate even more demanding. Professional development of teachers is taking on greater importance at Grafton High School, with the idea of professional learning communities as the basis. Groups of teachers are now getting together before school every Wednesday morning for 45 minutes to participate in book studies. In addition, Thursday mornings are now taken up with training in the use of technology, provided by the building technology coordinator. A next step will be to create opportunities for teachers to earn credit hours for some of these efforts. This will encourage more teachers to participate. The school also allocated 12 substitute days for professional development for approximately 33 teachers in The PD was to be aligned to the district-wide goals of improving achievement in literacy and math. These goals have also made their way to teachers individual PD goals. Teachers develop their own goals but these must be discussed with the principal and be consistent with the district s overall goals for achievement. Setting higher expectations for teachers and students has been a goal of the principal since first arriving. His approach is to share leadership of the school with the faculty and staff, but points to the need to first establish trust between administration and teachers, especially given the chaos in the school previously. Now, he sets the expectations for the school, allows for a process to accomplish the goals and provides the resources teachers need. He believes his role is to always focus, in word and action, on what is best for students even though this is not always the most popular thing to do. 53

72 Staff at Grafton High School. Table I displays the staffing chart for Grafton High School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. Table I Staffing Chart for Grafton High School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 13 1 funded by Title 1 Specialist Teachers 6 Not including Voc Center Tutors 0 ELL Teachers ELL teacher for the district Extended Day 0.25 Summer School 0.5 Alternative school 0 Special Education Teachers for mild 2 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 1 severely disabled Special Education Aides 4 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds 0 Substitutes 12 Substitute days for PD for 33 teachers Guidance counselor 1.5 Includes 0.8 drug/alcohol counselor Other pupil support staff 0.33 psychologist Shared by all district 0.20 social worker Technology coordinator 1.3 *Instructional aides 0 Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 0 Librarian(s) 0.3 *Library aides 1 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 0.5 *Activities Director 0.5 Secretary 1.6 Shares with district office Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 3 Instructional Coaches 0 54

73 Grafton High School operates a 7-period day with one preparation period for teachers, so teachers instruct for six of the seven periods. Average class size is 22 students. There is a 0 period in the morning, which allows a limited number of elective classes to be offered. Summer school at Grafton allowed for students to take Biology in the summer, leaving time available for other electives during the school year. The wealth of elective classes for students is apparent in these policies and in the table above, where Specialist teachers are almost 50% of core teachers (before accounting for the additional options available through the regional vocational center). The evidence-based model shows tutoring by a certified teacher and the use of instructional facilitators to be high-impact strategies for improving student achievement. However, these resources are virtually nonexistent in the table above. There is very little tutoring available for struggling students and there is currently no available coaching for teachers. There is also less pupil support staff available for the school than would be provided in the evidence-based adequacy model. These additional resources could provide some of the support the school would like to have help address the challenges of students in poverty. Concluding points. Grafton High School has had to overcome a void in leadership on its path to improved achievement. The new principal brought stability to the school and also a set of expectations that center on all students achieving. Coinciding with this change, the district has been able to raise teacher salaries to a high enough level that smaller districts around them are unable to compete. (The state minimum starting salary for teachers is about $24,000; Grafton High School s base is $31,500.) This has given the school the opportunity to hire top quality people and raise the bar on expectations for learning. However, the school still faces some significant challenges. Its community has great variation in income levels, which requires the school to interact with very different constituencies. The extreme poverty of some of its students creates a set of needs that are not easily articulated to all parents at the school. It is clear that more student support resources could provide a great benefit for students, yet the resources are not there. On the other hand, there are a lot of resources available for elective classes, even without counting the vocational center offerings. Summer school, too, is a missed opportunity to provide resources to struggling students. Currently, it serves as a means to provide more election options for students. The school does see professional development as a necessary focus, but needs more resources to augment existing PD efforts. The district does have a literacy coach that models instruction for teachers, but the focus is at the elementary and middle school level. The high school sees the need to have this kind of resource available to them. The school would also like to expand training in Professional Learning Communities, Love and Logic (a consequence-based approach to classroom management) and the use of technology. The school also sees the need for a data warehouse to help them analyze student achievement data. Paper reports are cumbersome, not easily accessible and do not lend themselves to manipulation by teachers. 55

74 Overall, Grafton High School has accomplished gains in student achievement in the face of significant challenges. The focus on raising expectations for teachers and students, aligning curriculum to the state standards, purchasing new materials, aiming to understand poverty, and focusing the nature of professional development have paid off. Further progress, however, will likely require a reallocation of existing resources and possibly additional resources to provide additional help to struggling students. Magic City Campus High School This case study tells the story of how Magic City Campus High School in Minot, North Dakota, has improved student performance over the past four years. The case is divided into four sections. The first section provides a description of the school and its students. It also describes the school s academic achievement gains over the past four years. Section two details the instructional improvement process at Magic City Campus. Section three contains a table that lists the school s staff according to the elements of the adequacy-based model. Section four makes some concluding points about the strategies school leaders at Magic City Campus used to improve performance. Description of the school. Magic City Campus High School (MCC) in Minot houses grades 11 and 12 for the district. In , it enrolled 970 students (the grade high school had 1000 students). Almost all student at MCC are white (90%), with a small percentage of Native American, African American, Hispanic and Asian students. The school has a very small number of students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRL), though this number is likely underreported, based on the percentage of FRL in the elementary schools. The special education population is 13% and ranges across the disability spectrum. The school enrolled one English Language Learner during this school year. The school is organized into a seven period daily schedule, with teachers teaching five periods; average core classes sizes are students. Although the population of the school has remained relatively stable in numbers and demographics over the years, there are signs that this may be changing. The school is located on the edge of the Bakken Formation where oil production has increased significantly in the last few years and is expected to continue to do so. This is expected to bring more students and greater diversity to the district and MCC. The teaching staff consists of approximately 78 teachers, almost all white with an average of 18 years of teaching experience. There is a university located in Minot, allowing many of MCC s teachers to earn master s degrees. The principal considers the school to have a very good and stable staff, with a good mix of newer and more veteran teachers. Magic City Campus High School s scores on the North Dakota State Assessment are shown in Figure 15. The data show how Reading and Math scores have improved over the four year period of available and comparable test scores. 56

75 Figure 15 Magic City Middle School Performance Data, to Achievement Growth at Magic City Campus High School Percent Proficient on State Assessment 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Reading 67% 76% 83% 72% Math 54% 56% 63% 60% Magic City Campus High School s instructional improvement strategy. Mr. Mark Vollmer, the principal has spent six years at MCC, three as an assistant principal and three as a principal. At about the time he first arrived at MCC, the school began to recognize that they had some challenges regarding student learning and attendance. The school decided to form a school leadership team to meet on a monthly basis, at least, and identify problems as well as solutions. The team was clear that this was not meant to be a venting session. The idea was to bring problems to the group which was charged then with proposing solutions. One of the first things the school did was adopt the Breaking Ranks approach to high school reform. Breaking Ranks is based on seven strategies and 31 recommendations to improve student achievement. The strategies and recommendations take the emphasis off just teaching and place it on learning, holding both teachers and students accountable for student learning results. The focus is on data-driven decision making and distributed leadership, with a strong emphasis on relationships. This lead to many talks among the leadership team about the realities of student performance at MCC. The Breaking Ranks approach is also consistent with the Professional Learning Community philosophy adopted by the district. From the initial digging into the data and the research literature, the MCC leadership team developed a plan during that first year to deal with the attendance and graduation rates. They have since gone from a 76 to an 89 percent graduation rate and while this is an improvement, the principal and team recognizes that it still has 11 out of 100 students not graduate. They also changed the attendance policy. The team wanted to make it clear to students that classroom activities were not just to keep students busy but were important enough that they needed to be made up when students were absent. MCC also introduced a Guidance Study 57

76 program where two certified teacher tutors work with students at risk of failing on academic content as well as organizational and study skills. The message for students in this program is, you re not going to fail. Another specific strategy adopted by MCC is a pyramid of intervention. This is an extension of the special education least restrictive environment philosophy applied to all students. The expectations for students are laid out at each grade level, with a stronger focus on the core academic content areas in the 9 th and 10 th grade and more flexibility for electives in the 11 th and 12 th. The pyramid has at its base things like quality instruction, professional development, and differentiated instruction, followed by interventions for struggling students such as tutoring, special education, summer school, and retention as a student progresses up the pyramid. A proactive summer registration process is another tool MCC uses to identify students who require some extra help. The registration process involves the students and parents and defines exactly what the expectations are and what needs to be done to meet them. If students are credit deficient, the message to students is that they need to do what they need to do and the school is there to help. Because the state is increasing credit requirements for graduation, the school is very aware that there s not much room for hiccups. The principal and leadership team are also aware of the additional risk factor inherent in the nature of the high schools grade configuration. The compulsory attendance age in North Dakota is 16 just at the grade 10 to 11 transition when students are transferring to MCC. This additional break between the two high schools is a critical time for students who are struggling in school. The two campuses have created a mechanism by which MCC is made aware of any students who are struggling as they leave the grade 9-10 campus. MCC in turn checks in with students on the academics, but also tries to address the social challenges of this transition. MCC has adopted a principle that states no one eats lunch alone the first week of school. The expectation is that everyone is made to feel comfortable in the building. When asked how the school manages to make sure that no one eats alone, the principal answered, How do we do it? Just a lot of diligence. All staff are expected to step in whether they are a school administrator (all three are out during the lunch times) or part of the lunch staff. The two high school campuses work closely together and have, over time, evolved into professional learning communities, with a focus on providing many opportunities for professional development for teachers and the pyramid of interventions for students. The professional development model at MCC was picked by the leadership team and it relies on the principal to teach teachers. All teachers have 2 planning periods during the day and one can be used to take part in the menu of professional development classes offered at MCC by the principal. Examples of classes offered in the recent past are: Breaking Ranks II, Foundations of Poverty (Ruby Payne s work), Love and Logic, Learning by Doing: PLCs in Action, and Data Driven School Improvement. The principals and other staff have done some modeling of lessons for new teachers as part of mentoring program, but only for teachers in their first or second year of teaching. The school has been debating whether to provide this for veteran teachers, but funding has been a 58

77 problem. The goal, the principal says, is to break away from the my classroom is my domain way of thinking and move further to collaboration. Data have also been an important part of the school s instructional strategy. They have spent considerable time working with data and learning how to use the information available. Along with information from state assessments, the district uses the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test by Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), the ACT, SAT and PSAT, among others. Still, they would like more. They are working with NWEA to have the MAP assessment normed for North Dakota and are pushing state policymakers to require all schools, even vocational schools, to take the ACT. The school has also recently moved from using paper reports to using Viewpoint, a data warehouse system that allows users to dig right in to find out what is going on with students. By digging into the data, the school is able to identify the groups of students who are not learning. For now, school administrators, counselors, and a core of teachers have access to Viewpoint, but in the next few years, they expect all teachers to have access to the information. The next section provides a chart detailing all the staff at Magic City Campus High School as well as some information about additional resources available at the school. Staff at Magic City Campus High School. Table J displays the staffing chart for Magic City Campus High School using the categories from the evidence-based adequacy model. In a few cases, where the school had personnel that are not part of the adequacy model, a row was added to the table the rows displaying such positions are marked with an asterisk. In addition, where positions are funded with federal funds, this is indicated in the Notes column. For students struggling to meet expectations, the school offers an intervention time from 7:30 to 8:00 each morning. This was accomplished by reducing the time in all other class periods from 55 to 50 minutes. The intervention time is part of all teachers day and is not considered an extended day strategy and therefore is not found in the table above. While the table above indicates only four days allotted for professional development, there are other resources available. The school receives federal Title II money that is used to send people to professional development opportunities with the expectation that they will bring it back to the school. In addition, some Career and Technical Education staff members are able to use Perkins money for professional development. Beyond that, the district provides a small ($9,000) travel budget for the school. 59

78 Table J Staffing Chart for Magic City Campus High School, Staffing Category Actual Notes Core Teachers 42 Specialist Teachers 21 Plus 14 Technology Ed, some funded by Perkins money Tutors 4 *Tutors (paraprofessional) 3 ELL Teachers 0 Extended Day 0 Summer School 4 18 headcount but 4 FTE Alternative school 7 Special Education Teachers for mild 5 disabilities Special Education Teachers for 3 severely disabled Special Education Aides 14 School houses a lot of the severely disabled students in the district until age 21 Gifted and Talented Teachers/Funds 0 Substitutes No regular subs, school uses district pool Guidance counselor 3 academic, 1 career Other pupil support staff 1 social school District has a psychologist and 2 nurses, which school uses as needed Technology coordinator 1.5 Non-instructional (supervisory) aides 2 Librarian(s) 1 *Library aides 4 Principal 1 Assistant Principal 2 Secretary 2 FTE year round, 3 FTE 9 months Professional Development - Total # of PD Days 4 Instructional Coaches.2 (approx) A lead teacher in every core area has some coaching responsibilities, but it is a very small (5%) fraction of their time 60

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